Iconic office furniture maker Herman Miller, which has its UK headquarters in Melksham, is to take on additional distribution and space by occupying a major disused warehouse.
The firm, best known for its instantly recognisable Aeron chair, is to occupy the 92,510 sq ft Consortium building on Trowbridge’s Canal Road Industrial Estate.
The near six-acre site was previously used by the firm of the same name which supplied books and stationary to generations of schoolchildren across the South West after being launched in 1971 as a local authority supplies organisation.
The Consortium, which later became known as Connect Education & Care, left the site in 2017 after being acquired by education software and IT services supplier RM.
Herman Miller has taken an eight-year lease on the building, which is owned by of Hertfordshire-based property investment firm Panther Securities.
The South West office of national property agency Carter Jonas acted for Panther.
Herman Miller has a long history in the Bath area, having arrived in the city in the 1960s. The WoodMill factory in Bath, and its previous manufacturing and logistics building in Chippenham, were both designed by leading contemporary architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, who also designed its current UK base, the 170,000 sq ft Portal Mill building in Melksham, which opened in 2015.
Its office chairs and furniture are manufactured and assembled there before being exported across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Herman Miller Europe Operations Director Charles Winn-Jones said: “The investment into the new distribution centre is part of the company’s business strategy, which seeks to improve competitiveness and delivery times, as well as more space for expanding operations in our domestic and European markets.”
Carter Jonas South West commercial partner Alison Williams added: “Canal Road remains an attractive and ever-popular trading estate and is an ideal place for Herman Miller to expand its operations in the South West.
“Its strategic location, with good access to the M4 and A303, continues to appeal to a number of the UK’s leading commercial occupiers requiring distribution hubs and office space in the area.
“By adding to the estate line-up, Herman Miller's commitment underlines the quality of the space and the popularity of Trowbridge as one of the region’s important commercial hubs.”
