From car showroom to showcase factory
BOOHOO PLANS TO TURN OVERGROWN SITE INTO FLAGSHIP FACILITY TO HELP REPAIR REPUTATION
THIS is the run-down and overgrown Leicester car dealership that fashion giant Boohoo intends to turn into its flagship factory.
The retailer is planning to open a state-of-the-art complex at the former Marshalls garage in Thurmaston Lane.
The move is part of the firm’s attempts to restore its reputation that has been damaged by high-profile allegations of exploitation of workers in city textile workshops that produce a large number of the garments it sells at low prices online.
Boohoo has now formally lodged its proposals for the site, sold for barely £3 million last summer, with planners at Leicester City Council.
In submitted documents, Boohoo says there has been a “lack of care and maintenance” at the site, which was overgrown in parts.
It said: “The newly-proposed use seeks to completely rejuvenate the site, with the intention to reuse the entirety of the building for office accommodation and light industrial processing activities including the manufacture, test and quality control of clothing items.”
The company says it wants to set up an education centre on the site as well as a gallery to show off designs by students from Leicester’s university and colleges.
It also outlines its plans for “coworking spaces set up for charities and trade association”.
Boohoo has told the council it expects 100 jobs will be created at its new city base.
It said: “The proposals will ensure that a disused building is improved and brought up to the standards of modern needs and occupation.
“Ensuring the continued occupation of the building for future development will also safeguard the protection of career opportunities and local assets for future generations within Leicester.
“The proposed alterations and improvements to the building are believed to be of minor, if any, impact on the existing structure. All repairs and alterations will be carried out to the highest standards by skilled tradespeople; new alterations to both the exterior and interior will be sensitive to the building and be of a high design quality in form and materiality.”
Last week Boohoo was warned it and some of its suppliers in Leicester - could be banned from exporting goods to the US over allegations over the use of slave labour. US Customs and Border Protection believes it has grounds to launch an investigation into the company’s practices following a campaign by an organisation called Liberty Shared, which fights modern-day slavery.
Last year Boohoo’s sales in the US were £263.6 million, more than a fifth of the company’s total revenue, according to Sky. The UK’s former anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland told Sky: “If they do identify this in the supply chain in Leicestershire, the potential sanctions to not trade in the US are enormous.
“The aim of the petitions is very clear, that companies which think they can benefit from forced labour and the exploitation of others are shown that they cannot and will face a sanction that they can’t trade in the world’s largest economy,” said Mr Hyland.
Last summer a Sunday Times investigation exposed evidence of illegally low wages and poor working conditions in Boohoo’s supply chain in Leicester, where 40 per cent of its clothes were reportedly being manufactured.
The government set up a multiagency task force, including the National Crime Agency, to investigate the claims.
Boohoo asked lawyer Alison Levitt QC to review the working practices of its clothing manufacturers and she produced a damning report which found allegations of working conditions “substantially true”.
Boohoo told investors in a stock market announcement that it was confident with the actions it is taking to ensure its products meet customs criteria to halt items made using forced labour from entering the US.
The company said it was not aware of an investigation by the US authorities and said it was continuing to fulfil orders for US customers.
It said it would “work with any competent authority to provide assurance that products from its supply chain meet the required standard”, the Press Association reported.
In a statement, it said: “Over the past eight months the group has been working closely with UK enforcement bodies.
“If the group were to discover any suggestion of modern-day slavery it would immediately disclose this to the relevant authorities.
“In addition, Alison Levitt QC’s independent review into Boohoo’s Leicester supply chain, published in September 2020, stated that ‘there is no evidence that the company itself or its officers have committed any criminal offences.’”
The newly-proposed use seeks to completely rejuvenate the site, with the intention to reuse the entirety of the building