The Range set for new HQ approval

Discount retailer The Range’s plans for a superstore and new headquarters on a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site in Plymouth are set to get the green light from councillors at a meeting next week (19 October 2017).The company lodged plans with Plymouth City Council earlier this year for the development on the former Seaton Barracks site, which passed to the ownership of Plymouth City Council in 2011.The new development could create about 570 jobs across a number of departments.The Range’s current headquarters in Estover is home to about 250 employees while its new facility would provide space for about 700.About 120 jobs will be created through the new superstore to be built alongside the headquarters.The application proposes a five-story, 83,500 sq ft office building and an 83,000 sq ft retail store, together with a café and external garden centre. A 350-space car park will also be created.Plymouth City Council will consider the plans at a meeting of its planning committee on 19 October.A report prepared ahead of the meeting recommends councillors resolve to approve the scheme, subject to the signing of a section 106 agreement and referral and no objection from the secretary of state for communities and local government Sajid Javid.The Range is owned and run by Plymouth-based billionaire Chris Dawson. The first store was opened in 1989 under the name CDS (Chris Dawson Superstores) and there are now more than 145 sites across the UK and Ireland.Earlier this year the company opened a 1.2 million sq ft distribution centre in Bristol, creating more than 1,000 jobs.