Approach 580 Gateway
Approach 580 Gateway sits on one of the main routes into the city from the M57 motorway. It covers parts of Knowsley and north east Liverpool and is centred on the A580 East Lancashire Road between Aintree and Knowsley.
140,000 people live very close to the area and there are around 800 companies employing over 19,000 people. Well-known firms include Vertex, St Ivel, Home Bargains, QVC, Trigon Snacks and TJ Morris. The area has great strengths in the manufacturing, logistics, service and food sectors. Aintree Hospital and Altcourse Prison are also major employers located in the area.
Approach 580 Gateway has great road links and a wide range of business sites and buildings. This means it offers great opportunities for industrial and economic regeneration.
The area is home to a vibrant small and medium-sized business community. These firms can be found at the:
- Aintree and Gillmoss Industrial Estates;
- Knowsley Industrial Park, Knowsley Business Park;
- Axis Business Park; and
- the new Stonebridge Business Park.
Key sectors locating here:
Approach 580 Gateway has become a centre for warehousing and distribution; the newly developing Stonebridge Business Park features distribution warehousing as its main use, as does the Gazeley development at Axis Business Park. The opportunity has already been seized by Carcraft and retail chain Home Bargains who both arrived on Axis Business Park in 2004/5. Home Bargains, owned by the TJ Morris group, expanded their existing distribution facility at a cost of £35million during 2008 and added another 700 employees to the 400 already working there.
The area is also synonymous with the call centre industry. Within the neigbouring Knowsley part of the SIA, QVC doubled the size of its distribution centre in a £20million investment in 2007. Meanwhile, also in 2007, Vertex added another 100 to its 800 strong workforce to provide customer services for clients such as Powergen, Marks & Spencer and Esure.
In the 1950s, industry began in the area with predominantly food processing. Hartleys had developed a jam factory on what is today the Aintree Industrial Estate. Although this sector has declined in recent years following the loss of firms such as Cadburys Schweppes and Mother's Pride Bakeries, some well known brand-names are still operating in the area, including Nelson, Express Dairies, Spiller Pet Food, Trigon Snacks (Walkers Crisps) and Jacobs. Jacobs alone provides over 1000 jobs for local people.
Help and advice:
Liverpool Vision is working to make a number of important large sites and buildings available in the Liverpool part of the SIA. They also offer help to firms wishing to move to or expand here.
JET Alt Valley gives help to residents looking for jobs or training for better jobs within the area. Find out more about JETs (Jobs Education Training).
Contact us
5th Floor, The Capital, 39 Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9PP
Tel: +00 44 (0)151 600 2900
Website: www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
Email: info@liverpoolvision.co.uk