Property giant Countryside is investing £37 million in a major office project in the heart of Chelmsford.

The development, known as the Coval Wells campus, will breathe new life into the former abbatoir and Co-op dairy depot site off Parkway, which has lain derelict since 1991.

Countryside Properties (Commercial) plc has begun to construct three two-storey blocks providing a combined office space total of 107,000 square feet and parking space for 325 vehicles.

It is convinced that expanding local companies will be in the forefront of an expected rush to let the prestigious brick-built offices.

Countryside director Mark Chatham said: "Our Coval Wells campus will be the first new office buildings of any size to be built within the north-east quadrant of the M25 for 10 years, and could either be let to a single major company or individually.

"No rent is being quoted at this stage, but lack of new space and the level of demand in the area would suggest a market rent of around £22.50 per sq ft."

Construction at Coval Wells, which covers 3.5 acres, was put on the back burner eight years ago after Countryside bought the land, but now the market is sufficiently buoyant to merit the development, and ground work has begun in earnest.

The first block, Levick House, will be ready for occupation next spring, while work on Buckenham House and Faviell House will depend upon demand and be limited for the moment to foundations.

An initial car parking area for 114 vehicles will be expanded as the project proceeds.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.