A LONG established Shipley business has ended a five year search for larger premises by moving into a new business park down the road from its current base.

John Ayrey Die-Casts is one of two businesses moving onto the new Baildon Business Park on Buck Lane. The move will enable the 65 year-old company, which supplies die-cast scale models and kits to customers across the globe, to operate from a single site.

The other new arrival is West Yorkshire Glazing , which has moved from Yeadon into a 6.000 sq ft unit at Baildon.

Norman Hinchliffe, managing director of John Ayrey Die-Casts, which has 16 staff, and has acquired a 8,000 sq ft unit, is looking forward to making the move in the coming weeks.

He said: “We are currently based in the centre of Shipley in an old building which no longer meets our needs and a large amount of our stock is stored in another storage unit in Shipley. The move will allow us to have everything together under one roof, and provides an opportunity to upgrade our computer system to further improve efficiency.

"The site will also allow for easier deliveries and it is large enough for us to grow into with more staff in the future. We will be using some of the additional space to develop a 3D printing facility, initially for our own products and R&D, but we hope to offer a service to other local businesses in the future.”

Jane Waddington, managing director of West Yorkshire Glazing which intends to expand its 12-strong workforce, said: “This move is the latest phase of our expansion strategy, to address our need for increased manufacturing capacity. Current and expected future demand means we outgrew our existing premises.

"It was important for both customers and staff not to move too far from Yeadon. Baildon Business Park is ideally located for us and will allow us to continue to serve customers across West Yorkshire and beyond.

“The unit was a fantastic blank canvas and allows us to have a small customer showroom as well as an extended and better equipped workshop. We recently took on some extra employees to meet the growing demand and will be looking for more fitters, fabricators and administration staff immediately to help fulfil our ambitious plans.”

Andrew Russell, of developer Pendle Russells, said he was looking forward to starting the next phase of construction soon All three planned units totalling 38,000 sq ft were under offer .