Development Case Studies

The 40-acre site of the Alfred Herbert Ltd works in Coventry was developed over a 40-year period into a major commercial hub with a strong mix of uses, from retail to industrial.

The project is the biggest to date in the company’s history and has created a corridor of economic vitality on the main gateway from the M6 into the city, which was decimated by the demise of the machine tool maker in the early 1980s.

Founder John Wigley took his first step into land and property management in 1979 when he acquired 10 acres of land and property from Alfred Herbert Ltd, splitting the buildings and workshops up into small industrial units.

With the motor industry in decline, many of the units provided a base for redundant workers to start up their own enterprises over the next 25 years.

The site was reassembled for development in 2005 which allowed The Wigley Group to build a new 30,000sq ft delivery depot which it then leased to the Royal Mail. The following year, adjoining land was sold to Lidl for a supermarket, and in 2017, the final section was sold for the creation of a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

A further 26 acres of land purchased in 1987 with the existing buildings let out to various companies until planning permission was granted in 1996 for the land to be redeveloped into what is now the Gallagher Retail Park, a thriving shopping destination, with occupiers including Argos, Aldi, and McDonald’s.

In 2015, adjacent land was acquired and developed into Vantage Park, a retail trade park, and was quickly fully let to occupiers including Magnet and a Honda motorcycle dealership. The site was sold in 2017.

The company collaborated with Coventry City Council to secure the recovery of 10 acres of land that had been rendered obsolete due to the amount of spoil left from the creation of the A444, buying the land and selling it off in two parcels, to Vauxhall and Greene King for a car dealership and pub to be built respectively, with a large section left as parkland for the local community.

The final piece of the jigsaw saw The Wigley Group set about creating Edgwick Point and in October 2018 the company completed a forward-funded deal whereby the land was sold, but continued to build 65,000sq ft of commercial space on behalf of the purchaser. 

The sale of the Royal Mail North Hub at the end of 2018 marked the end of The Wigley Group’s holdings in the historic site.

Its regeneration has been the catalyst for close but unassociated land to be developed for housing, leisure and retail, most notably the Ricoh Arena and Arena Park.

The seven-acre site of the former Daimler car factory in the Radford area of Coventry was acquired as a long-term investment in 2006.

Much of the car factory was destroyed during Second World War bombing and the land split into two parcels — Sandy Lane Business Park, which has 36,000sq ft of trade units, and the 170,000sq ft Sandy Lane Industrial Estate.

Both form part of a major regeneration scheme that aims to create a vibrant new neighbourhood for living, work, culture and leisure.

Phase one has seen the former Daimler Powerhouse building — the only remaining part of the factory — refurbished and improved into a £2.4 million creative hub for existing and emerging artists and a base for five resident companies. It opened in time for Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture 2021.

The Wigley Group retains the ownership of the locally-listed building and the redevelopment was funded by the company in partnership with Coventry City Council and the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Growth Deal.

Phase two is for a mixed-use scheme that, subject to planning permission, will provide up to 500 homes, employment and commercial spaces, and cultural and leisure amenities.

The canal-side development — named Daimler Wharf — will regenerate this important heritage site and act as a catalyst for the creation of a Northern Quarter for the city.

Visit Daimler Wharf

A 54,000sq ft commercial unit was acquired on a 2.7-acre parcel of land on the Bayton Road Industrial Estate in Exhall, Coventry, in 2016.

The estate is one of the largest commercial and industrial locations in the West Midlands and home to a range of small and large businesses, and ideal for access to the motorway network as it lies next to the A444 and close the J3 of the M6.

The unit was two converted into one and was previously home to a company that manufactured metal components for the automotive industry. Following its acquisition, it was fully refurbished by Wigley Building and Development Ltd and let as a leisure attraction run by the Red Kangaroo Trampoline Park brand on a 15-year lease.

Seven months after the trampoline park opened in early 2018, much of the unit was destroyed by fire, but planning permission was secured in 2019 for a new 32,500sq ft replacement unit designed to a specification agreed with the Red Kangaroo brand, and re-let to them on a new 15-year lease. It is one of three sites the brand operates, but the only one that is purpose-built.

Next door to the trampoline park a speculative, self-contained 27,000sq ft unit suitable for the warehouse and distribution sectors was built in order to help meet a recognised shortage of commercial property in Coventry and Warwickshire.

The new premises were developed by Wigley Contracts (Barby) Ltd and built out by Wigley Building and Development Ltd.