A HIGH-END food producer is moving to a £3million Plymouth base – bringing about 100 jobs to the city.
Dartmouth Foods, which makes products for top retailers such as Marks & Spencer, is leasing all nine newly-built business units at Langage Science Park from Plymouth City Council.
The company will invest £3million into creating a purpose-built factory.
The move safeguards 78 existing jobs, including 30 Plymouth-based staff, and the company will employ another 22 people when the facility opens in July.
And it intends to increase staff at the site by at least another 65 people by 2019.
Edward Obolensky, director of the family-run Dartmouth Foods, said: "We have exciting plans to build our businesses and needed somewhere we can make this happen, so were delighted when this site came to our attention.
"We have already built a really good relationship with the council and have been impressed with the support and their overall approach.
"We look forward to making an even more successful venture in Plymouth."
Dartmouth Foods specialises in a wide range of cooked poultry and fish products to the British sandwich and retail market.
It was founded in 1978 and its headquarters are in Dartmouth.
In 2010 the company opened a distribution and storage base in Newton Abbott.
It is now expanding into Plymouth City Council's £2.7million Hearder Court workspace, just off the A38.
In 2014 the council began to develop this as a speculative scheme to attract employment and provide opportunities to existing and new businesses.
Contracts have just been signed between the council and Dartmouth Foods.
Cllr Tudor Evans, leader of Plymouth City Council, said: "This is brilliant news for the city, for working families and the council.
"With this one contract, we will not only fill all the units, we also hit the target we set for creating jobs from this scheme.
"We have the highest concentration of manufacturing employment of any city south of the Midlands and need space with up-to-date facilities to attract companies.
"We set about building facilities in the hope of getting businesses and this has paid off already.
"I'm delighted to welcome Dartmouth Foods to Plymouth.
We already have a number of significant food businesses here and are really pleased to be able to welcome them to the city."
The Hearder Court development comprises nine units of varying sizes. The entire site was designed with the aim of being flexible.
The development was named after Jonathan Nash Hearder, a Victorian electrical engineer, inventor and educator who developed the induction coil and was an advisor on the first Atlantic cable.
The units are sustainable incorporating energy-saving features such as photovoltaic systems, efficient heating systems, LED lighting and increased insulation.
They also have generous service yard areas, parking, cycle shelters, waste recycling zones and electrically operated loading doors.
