Technology Park Celebrates New Ownership

The successful science and technology site Discovery Park, based in Sandwich, Kent, marked a new era in its future development following the sale of the commercial and industrial facilities in November to investment company Discovery Park Estates Ltd.

The former shareholders will continue as the owners of the company that manages Discovery Park on a day-to-day basis, Parkserve Ltd and as owners of the residential land.

Trevor Cartner, Chris Musgrave and Palmer Capital invested in Discovery Park Ltd in July 2012 after pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, scaled back their operation. The partnership has since developed the site from 5 companies (15% occupancy), to a community of 150 companies (65% occupancy) employing more than 2,400 people across several sectors, with a target to reach 3,000 jobs and 70% occupancy by the end of 2017.

The existing management team, including Managing Director Paul Barber, Finance Director Kevin Howes and Leasing Director Anna Stone, will also remain in place to support the new owners.

Mr Barber, said: “When the previous investors acquired the site in 2012 it was always the intention that once the business park had moved onto a sound footing they would move on to new ventures. The success of the site has been such that we have reached this stage perhaps a year ahead of schedule. We have really ambitious plans to make Discovery Park an even more exciting place and we are thrilled that the new owners fully support our ideas.”

Bernard Spitz, spokesman for Discovery Park Estates said: “We are delighted to have acquired Discovery Park. The site is recognised globally as a cutting-edge hub of science, business and technology and that is something we intend to develop even further in the future. We also fully intend to implement the previous owners’ plans to develop other facilities on the site as soon as possible.”

Developments include the ongoing refurbishment of key buildings; completion of construction work on nearly 70,000 sq ft of manufacturing space and the £160million investment in a new biomass renewable energy plant.