Armah Switchgear on the move to Hillthorn Business Park
The power systems specialist has signed a 15-year lease for 41,000 sq ft at the £80m development as it seeks to grow the business.
Hillthorn was developed by Sunderland City Council. Armah was advised on the move from its current base at Glover West Industrial Estate by law firm Swinburne Maddison.
Armah is well known as a switchgear specialist, and has worked on major projects including London’s The Shard and Goodison Park, home of Everton FC, as well as projects closer to home in floodlighting on the Tyne Bridge and the Pilgrim Quarter in Newcastle city centre.
Its directors believe that the larger facilities will enable “exponential” growth of the company.
Swinburne Maddison commercial property partner, Gillian Moir, completed the necessary legal work. She said: Gillian said: “We were delighted with this instruction – our first from Armah – to assist with the firm’s ambitious move to much larger premises. The lease was granted out of a head lease, which in turn was granted out of a superior lease, so all documents needed to be completed carefully and in turn.
“This was a significant lease agreement with a 15-year term and a rent of £289,000 per annum.”
Along with the extra floorspace in the warehouse, Moir said, there is also 3,300 sq ft of office space at first floor level.
Alan Hawkins founded Armah 33 years ago along with Andrew Mayo. Hawkins said: “Our turnover has risen considerably over the last 12 months, and we are exceptionally busy with some prestigious projects at the present time. Our new premises will enable us to phase production more appropriately and then Armah can grow exponentially while projecting a more modern and professional image to visitors and clients.
“As part of the move, we are investing in new, modern equipment for storage and will also be upgrading some of our production tooling. The current headcount is 60 and we will be looking to increase that gradually over the next few years with our apprentice school providing some natural growth.”
Close to Sunderland’s massive Nissan plant, work started on Hillthorn in March 2022 with GMI instructed to deliver a first phase of seven buildings at the 62-acre site. All of the phase one buildings, amounting to around 363,000 sq ft, are now let or under offer.
Ultimately, close to 600,000 sq ft is slated to be built out, with a second phase of 219,000 sq ft in the works.
Legal & General, also involved in the central Riverside Sunderland regeneration project, backed Sunderland in the development. Avison Young and HTA Real Estate are agents on the scheme.
