IN Brief:
- Caddick Construction is erecting four industrial units totalling 96,000 sq ft at Farington Park.
- The 14,750–33,000 sq ft buildings target BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings.
- The final phase follows the 544,000 sq ft Victorian Plumbing logistics hub and includes wider ecology and active-travel investment.
Caddick Construction has advanced steelwork on the second and final phase of Farington Park in Leyland, where four detached industrial units will add 96,000 sq ft of new logistics and manufacturing space to the Lancashire development.
The contractor is delivering the scheme for sister company Caddick Developments, with backing from Arrow Capital Partners and Cerberus Capital Management. The four buildings range from 14,750 sq ft to 33,000 sq ft and occupy the remaining part of the 50-acre site following completion of the substantially larger first phase.
That earlier 544,000 sq ft facility was completed by Caddick in 2023 and became Victorian Plumbing’s North West logistics hub. The final phase addresses a different part of the industrial market, replacing the single large-format building model with four independently occupied units aimed at mid-box demand.
The change in scale alters the construction requirements as well as the leasing strategy. Each unit needs its own access, service yard, loading arrangements, drainage, utilities, fire strategy, building services, and external works, increasing the number of interfaces that have to be coordinated across the remaining site.
Steel erection gives the development its most visible sign of progress and moves the four buildings into a phase where several trades can begin working in parallel. Once the primary frames are stable, roofing, cladding, slabs, services, loading doors, internal finishes, and external yards can increasingly follow, although progress remains dependent on access and the completion of below-ground infrastructure.
The buildings are being designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings. Those targets affect envelope performance, lighting, controls, metering, building services, commissioning, and the evidence required at completion, rather than sitting as an environmental label applied after construction.
Caddick has also invested around £1m in ecology and community measures across the wider development. The work includes a seven-acre park, improvements to public rights of way, outdoor gym equipment, walking routes, cycle storage, and electric-vehicle charging points.
A nearby watercourse has been de-culverted to create additional wildlife habitat, while part of the Leyland Loop cycleway has also been completed. Such measures increasingly form part of the infrastructure package around major employment developments, particularly where planning obligations extend into biodiversity, drainage, access, and community provision.
Dave Saville, regional managing director of Caddick Construction North West, said the team was “making excellent progress as the steel frame takes shape on the second phase”.
The final phase also demonstrates how industrial parks can be structured around different categories of occupier. Victorian Plumbing absorbed a single very large building, whereas four smaller units open the site to companies needing less space and greater operational independence.
That broadens the possible tenant base across logistics, light manufacturing, assembly, servicing, and other business-to-business uses. It also places greater emphasis on ensuring each building can function independently, with sufficient servicing, power, parking, loading, and external space to avoid operational conflicts once different occupiers arrive.
For the construction programme, the building envelope and utility interfaces now become particularly important. Getting each structure weather-tight allows internal trades to work with greater certainty, while the timing and capacity of power and other services can influence completion where prospective tenants have more demanding manufacturing or logistics requirements.
The environmental targets create another layer of quality control. Achieving BREEAM Excellent and EPC A requires design assumptions to survive procurement and installation, with materials, controls, insulation, air leakage, lighting, plant performance, and commissioning all contributing to the final certification position.
The ecology works need similar coordination. De-culverting a watercourse and establishing new habitat around an active construction site means environmental areas have to be protected from temporary roads, plant movements, compounds, and the heavy logistics associated with completing the buildings.
Tom Park, associate director at Caddick Developments, said the four units had been designed to respond to demand for “high-quality mid-box industrial space”, placing the final phase between small trade units and the very large distribution sheds that dominate many logistics schemes.
Farington Park benefits from having its main infrastructure and first occupier already established. Roads, landscape areas, and the existing logistics hub are in place while the remaining buildings are completed, reducing some of the risks associated with creating an entirely new industrial location.
The steel frame does not remove the harder delivery work still ahead. Envelopes, services, external works, certification, and occupier requirements have to come together across four separate buildings, each of which needs to operate independently while still forming part of a coherent industrial estate.
That makes the current milestone important without making it the end of the programme. Farington Park now has the structure of its final phase on site; the next task is turning those frames into finished buildings capable of meeting the environmental and operational performance promised at planning and development stage.
