Suffolk Business Park, near Bury St Edmunds, is proposed new UK base for agricultural machinery manufacturer Avant Tecno

Plans have been submitted for a commercial building that would be the new UK headquarters of established agricultural machinery company Avant Tecno.

The planning application for plot 400 at Suffolk Business Park, near Bury St Edmunds, has been submitted by the Churchmanor Estates Company PLC, the Trustees of the Rougham Estate Farms Partnership and Avant Tecno (UK) Ltd.

Avant Tecno is currently based close to Thetford at Bridgham, but the company is rapidly outgrowing its present site and needs to be close to A14 and Felixstowe, documents with the application said.

The proposed development would create up to 10 jobs, and would enable expansion to accommodate an additional 12 to 18 jobs in the near future.

The scheme has a floor area of 3,156m2 and the proposed height of the main warehouse is 12,175m from finished floor level.

Since 1991, Avant has manufactured more than 70,000 loaders at its manufacturing plant in Finland.

This scheme, which has been designed specifically for the identified tenant, Avant, is for its UK headquarters to help support its rapidly expanding international business.

The statement also says Avant is recognised as a market leader in multi-purpose small to medium agricultural and grounds machinery.

The planning application submitted to West Suffolk Council is to build a storage and distribution building and office and conference/training space, with an ancillary agricultural plant machinery display area (not for the purposes of sale).

This would be together with associated infrastructure including means of access, vehicle and cycle parking, service yard and landscaping.

The site would be accessed via the Eastern Relief Road (General Castle Way) via the spine road Anglo Saxon Way.

The application site is 1.15ha in size and is on the north side of General Castle Way and bounded on the west by the existing Rougham Industrial Estate and on the east by the recently-built Festool building.

The design and access statement with the plans said: "The purpose of the building is to provide a UK head office space, and storage and distribution area being a point whereby the agricultural machinery, accessories, and spare parts, come into the UK, with the pre-delivery inspection of machines on-site (with a two-bay workshop); and then distributed to their wider dealer network.

"A modest display area is also provided which is for wholesale/dealer visiting purposes. Retail sales will not be carried out on-site, but through the wider franchised dealer distribution network.

"Likewise, the workshop is only used for pre-delivery inspections, and repair of any damage sustained in transport from the factory."

The planning statement said the scheme would provide a modern high-tech and efficient working environment for staff and visitors.

In environmental benefits, it is proposed electric air source heat pumps/VRF units are installed to meet 100 per cent of the warehouse building's space heating and space cooling provision, and the roof of the new warehouse would accommodate PV (photovoltaics) panels.

The design and access statement said discussion with the local planning authority at the pre-application stage had resulted in these proposals to ensure the submission does not need amending during the planning process.