Perth food and drink business park in line for £2m upgrade

Search: Council seeks company to spearhead major expansion at North Muirton site

Scotland’s first business park dedicated to the food and drink sector is poised for a £2 million upgrade.

The much heralded industrial estate at Perth was opened with the promise of hundreds of potential jobs last year.

Last month, food distribution company McLaughlan Transport was confirmed as the first business to move into the North Muirton site.

Now, Perth and Kinross Council has launched a search for a company to spearhead a multi-million-pound expansion within the 16 acre-estate.

A contract has been issued to develop between five and six new business units.

The local authority is inviting “suitably experienced” contractors to submit tenders for the £2.1m work.

A planning application has also been submitted for the first five bases, including four at 1,300sq ft and one covering an area of 3,444sq ft.

According to the contract notice, a fifth unit could also be built “subject to demand being forthcoming and subject to available budget”.

A council spokesman added: “The initial development will comprise of five small business units, fitted out to basic British Retail Consortium standards.”

A scoring system will be used to select the successful firm. The deadline for offers is Tuesday May 10 and the winning company is likely to be announced at the beginning of August.

Earlier this week, councillors gave their backing to ambitious proposals to heat the park using innovative thermal energy technology.

The project, which will be a first for Scotland, would convert the cold water of the River Tay into a source of warmth for business units at the park, as well as about 200 homes in the area.

Council chiefs say the £8.2m project could help slash energy bills and could be rolled out to other parts of the city.

Food and drink is one of Scotland’s key growth sectors and it has ambitions to grow from £13.1 billion today to £16.5 billion by 2017.

Within Perth and Kinross, the annual turnover of the food and drink sector is thought to be around £280m and there are an estimated 130 companies in the processing sector.

There is space for up to 11 development plots at the business park. At full capacity, the site could provide work for about 400 people.

The initial development will comprise of five small business units, fitted out to basic British Retail Consortium standards. PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL SPOKES MAN