News Article

Topping Out at £330m Office Park

24/10/2008

BBC ONLINE

First Minister Alex Salmond has visited a £330m Business Park currently under construction at the Eurocentral complex in Lanarkshire. The Maxim centre is one of the largest office parks in Scotland and could provide up to 8,000 jobs. It is located on the former Chunghwa Picture Tubes factory site and is due to be fully occupied by 2010. Mr Salmond toured the park and signed a steel beam which bears the signatures of the 490 construction staff on site. The park will provide 756, 000 sq ft of office space on a site equivalent in size to 27 football pitches. It includes the largest office building under construction in the UK, measuring 186, 545 sq ft. The topping out ceremony took place there.

Maxim Park Chief Executive, Karen Campbell, said:

"We have a lot to offer companies wanting to set-up offices in Lanarkshire. "The park will include ten offices, retail space, a putting green, one of Scotland's biggest nurseries, an on-site hotel and we are putting in a business centre. She added: "We are talking to companies who don't have a presence in the UK at the moment, and also Scottish based firms. We are appealing to a wide market."

Ms Campbell dismissed concerns that the current economic downturn might mean that companies were less interested in investing in new premises. She said:

"Obviously the market is difficult at the moment but the park will not be completed until 2010. We are in an enterprise zone so can offer very generous financial benefits to in going tenants. "Companies need new offices and certain sectors are still in growth mode. Our view is that we are offering a very financially competitive product."