The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
New owner to demolish old Tesco warehouse
The Baird Avenue site has previously been used by PressureFab, Tesco Tesco and William Low
The largest unoccupied industrial site in Dundee is being knocked down by its new owners.
Derbyshire-based property developers CWC Group has acquired the 208,000 sq ft Baird Avenue site from the administrators of Twickler Estates Limited — the owner of failed oil and gas company PressureFab.
The vast warehouse was used as a distribution centre by Tesco until the supermarket giant controversially closed the site in 2006, putting 430 staff out of work.
After lying empty for more than eight years, it was taken over by PressureFab in 2015, just over a year before the company went out of business.
The property had been marketed for sale by chartered surveyors DM Hall on behalf of the administrators KPMG for £1.25 million since November 2016.
The final sale price has not been disclosed.
Gordon Arthur, director of CVC Group, said the company was demolishing the building largely on account of the business rates costs.
He said: “It’s a prominent site on the Kingsway. We thought it was an interesting opportunity.
“At the moment we are demolishing the shed that’s there.
“Once that’s removed from the site that will give us approximately 10 acres fronting the Kingsway for future development.
“The sheer cost of holding the building while you market to try to find somebody who is interested in a large space for that nature dictated the decision to pull the building down.
“The rates are very high on that building. As a business you have to balance the decision to keep something with all the costs associated with running with it.
“The administrator marketed the property for a while and did not find anybody to take that space.”
Mr Arthur said he expected the site – which was formerly used by William Low before the supermarket group was bought by Tesco – to be cleared this year. He said he had already received inquiries from potential tenants.
“Our long term plans will be demand led development ,” Mr Arthur continued.
“We’ve had a few inquiries from various trade counters that are looking for frontage to the Kingsway.
“We build to order in some markets and in others we will do a speculative unit.
“It’s early days for us and we haven’t made a decision.
“We need to get the warehouse away and then look at what’s best for the future.”
The offices owned and used as a call centre by Tesco to the left of the site are not affected by the plans.
Mr Arthur said the purchased marked his property company’s first venture in Dundee.
“There is certainly a lot being done in the Dundee area and from what you see at the Waterfront there are a lot of opportunities being exploited which are very good,” he added.
At one stage PressureFab, founded by entrepreneur Hermann Twickler, employed more than 100 staff in Dundee. However, a sustained downturn in the global oil price ultimately proved fatal for the firm.