Developer Raiths Farm Properties has completed the first phase of its new 43-acre industrial business development and secured its first occupant.

Situated five miles south of Aberdeen city centre, the £50 million fully serviced site offers custom build opportunities delivering more than 500,000 sq ft of high specification, flexible industrial space for the north-east of Scotland.

The first occupant, global energy rental and services company Hoover Ferguson, has now moved into a £4m facility following a bespoke fit-out and has an additional four acres under offer for future development.

Work on the second phase of the development is expected to begin in early 2018. Outline planning permission has been obtained for hotel and leisure, industrial office, storage and distribution uses. Full planning consent has also been granted for a 100,000sq ft warehousing facility.

The site is located just off the main A90 Aberdeen to Dundee trunk road and less than one mile south of the Charleston interchange of the new Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), which is due to complete by late 2017.

John Ray, managing director of Raiths Farm Properties, said: “This investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the north-east. The south of Aberdeen has undergone significant change and regeneration over the past three years and has grown to become an extremely attractive commercial location from which to do business.

“It is crucial for the ongoing growth of the region’s economy that we retain existing and attract new company operational headquarters with access to some of the city’s main transport routes.

“Despite the ongoing challenges faced by many Aberdeen based companies as a result of the sustained low oil prices, we have recognised that there is still a huge demand for new premises, as businesses seek to reduce the costs associated with operating from multiple, ageing sites which are no longer fit for purpose.

“We are pleased to welcome Hoover Ferguson as our first occupant and we are confident that their new Cairnrobin facility will provide staff with a modern, well connected workplace, designed to meet their future needs.”

The Hoover Ferguson site comprises a workshop, tank cleaning facility and an associated office building, housing upwards of 25 staff.

Construction of a state-of-the-art tank farm is also due to be completed and fully operational by the end of June.