UK LAND Estates has moved on to a key industrial site, near an entry point to the Tyne Tunnel, to begin a redevelopment exercise.

The regeneration project will provide a 22,000sq ft high quality factory unit with two-storey open plan offices fronting on to High Flatworth, on the Tyne Tunnel Estate, in North Tyneside.

It will feature a reception area, with an extensive 12,000-sq ft rear yard, up to 20 car parking spaces and high quality landscaping.

Adrian Bartle, UK Land Estates construction manager, said: "We are pleased to be starting this extensive programme of works, which will to raise the profile of the estate.

"This unit will set the precedence for the rest to follow and will provide this area with a much-needed nucleus of quality space.

"We have worked closely with our architects, Faulkner-Browns, on a design that will not only rejuvenate the premises, but provide a solution that is flexible and easy to maintain."

UK Land Estates is carrying out a more widespread upgrade of the estate to provide a higher quality environment for tenants and visitors, devising a "masterplan" with Faulkner-Browns for new build elements of up to one million sq ft of business space on 40 acres of the site.

The developments will bring the surroundings up to modern standards to compete with business parks elsewhere in the region.

UK Land Estates consider the estate a major strategic site for business, located adjacent to the A19, and handily positioned when the second Tyne-Tunnel is completed by 2005 or 2006.

The new unit is expected to be completed by July, with Smith Cole Wright and DTZ acting as letting agents on the development.