Black Country law firm George Green has helped a 70-year-old Redditch coach company move into new purpose built facilities.
Ceri Mort, commercial property partner at George Green, guided Hardings Coaches through a complex property transaction, which saw it sell its original site with outdated garages and offices and acquire new larger premises.
Ms Mort, who is based in George Green's Cradley Heath offices, advised on the sale of the company's 1.8 acre site at Evesham Road in Redditch to David Wilson Homes, where the housebuilder has now received planning permission to build 41 new homes.
At the same time, Ms Mort helped the company secure new, larger premises on a two acre site on Oxleasow Road, Redditch.
Started in the 1930's by the grandparents of the present managing director John Dyson, Hardings Coaches operates 45 coaches, hiring them to tour operators, for group bookings, to local education authorities, as well as running local bus services. It presently employs 50 full time and 30 part time workers and has an annual turnover of more than £4 million.
According to Mr Dyson, growth in the company meant they had to move.
He said: "We needed more room than Evesham Road could provide and both the offices and workshops were old.
"Our new site was purpose built. It provides much more space for all our operations and has allowed us incorporate an MOT testing station for coaches and HGV vehicles. The deal will help us continue to expand the company."
Ms Mort said: "Selling a site to a housebuilder which then looks to get planning permission for residential development is a complex, difficult and sometimes lengthy business and I was pleased to guide Hardings through the potential pitfalls. The company now has the potential for even greater future success."
