BICESTER. NO LONGER JUST ABOUT THE SHOPPING

In 2018 The Oxfordshire town of Bicester attracted seven million visitors. OK, to be more accurate, most of them headed to Bicester Village, the town’s phenomenally successful designer outlet village, which generates some of the highest densities of any shopping centre in the world.

But beyond that world-class cathedral of retail, Bicester town itself is growing at a phenomenal rate, with millions of pounds being invested. The town’s population is set to rise from 30,000 to more than 50,000, with 18,500 jobs on offer and 10,000 new homes.

Development is already under way at business parks Catalyst Bicester and Axis J9, and planning permission on two further sites is about to be submitted, according to commercial property estate agents VSL.

Bicester Office Park will be a 500,000 sq ft office park opposite Bicester Village, and up to a further 250,000 sq ft is planned at the 53-acre Symmetry Park, being developed by Tritax Symmetry.

Symmetry Park Bicester has the capacity to deliver up to 755,000 sq ft of logistics floor space. 88,000 sq ft has been pre-sold to furniture company Bentley Designs Ltd with 110,000 sq ft sold to medical supplies company Medline Services Ltd. A unit of 163,664 sq ft developed speculatively has now been let to Ocado Retail Ltd.

A 60,000 sq ft unit has been let to DPD Group UK Ltd. The distribution hub is the first net zero carbon in construction building in developer Tritax’s portfolio.