A growing Ayrshire business has been given the green light to move its manufacturing base to a former primary school.
The now vacant St Cuthbert’s Primary School, in Maybole’s Kirkland Street, was previously earmarked for the relocation and expansion plan by family-owned Crawford Henderson Ltd.
Now the firm has been given approval for the plans under delegated powers by council planners.
The firm, currently based in Maybole’s Welltrees Street, make bespoke giftware items. Some of their illustrious clients include Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and The Houses of Parliament.
They previously submitted a planning application to South Ayrshire Council, seeking permission for a change of use and alterations at the former school, which has since moved to the Maybole Community Campus.
In a supporting statement the applicants said: “It is our intention to relocate our business into the former school building.
“Our business has ambitious growth plans and our existing premises will simply not allow us the production space to meet our growth objectives.
“As part of our growth plans we expect to grow our employees from a total of 13 today, to 20 in the next five years.
“Our employees are mainly resident in the Maybole area.
“We fully expect the new jobs we create will also come from the local vicinity and as such, the consequential effect of us being successful in our bid to acquire the St Cuthbert’s School, will be a significant contribution to the local economy, supporting jobs and families in a community that needs such economic opportunity.”
The firm also states that they project growth in sales from £1.1m today to £2.5m in the next five years and as such, there will be “further benefits” to the local economy.
Their supporting statement continues: “Concerning the property itself, subject to change of use/planning considerations, we will not only achieve increased production capacity, but we will also sympathetically upgrade the property in such a way that we can showcase our production techniques and invite our highly prestigious clients to visit us.
“We are a successful business who can demonstrate the financial ability to settle an agreed purchase price.
“The former school building lends itself to our production process with large classroom to the rear that can be opened up and offices along the front side. The lower level can be utilised for storage of materials.
“The intention is to insert a goods lift and staircase to allow ease of movement between levels.
“Externally, the openings in the walls lower storage areas will be infilled with a composite cladding material.
“The storage area will be insulated and heated. Feature cladding and signage will be located next to the front entrance.”
The statement adds: “The company is experiencing a period of substantial growth which was interrupted by the pandemic but is now firmly back on track and as a result, we need to increase our production capacity.”
Over the decades the firm has built an impressive list of ‘blue-chip customers’ which includes: Diageo, Royal Collection Enterprises (Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Holyrood Palace), Historic Environment Scotland, NTS, The National Gallery, Tate Gallery, V&A Museum, The Imperial War Museum, Abbey Road Studios, Historic Royal Palaces and The Houses of Parliament,
In approving the plans council papers said: “The proposals offer the opportunity to secure the positive re-use of an existing building, and to ensure that the building and its fabric does not deteriorate. Given the long-standing use of the site, it is not considered that a commercial use shall be out-of-keeping with the character or amenity of the area.”
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