Stoford Developments has welcomed a nationwide independent vehicle assessor as the first tenant at its new £14 million Elmbridge Court scheme near Cheltenham.

Harpers UK, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, has moved to a new 3,000 sq ft single storey open-plan unit in the green belt business park on a ten-year lease with a six-year break.

The unit is part of the newly completed 47,000 sq ft first phase of Elmbridge Court that Stoford has converted from former HM Customs & Excise buildings to units of between 1,200 and 3,000 sq ft.

Located between Cheltenham and Gloucester, Elmbridge Court will eventually house 90,000 sq ft of office units.

Jason Adderley, Stoford Director, said: “We are delighted to welcome such a prestigious company as our first tenant almost immediately on first-phase completion and we hope to announce further deals very shortly.” Agents for Elmbridge Court are the Cheltenham offices of DTZ and Gloucester offices of Alder King.

Elsewhere Avanti Kitchens & Bedrooms has signed up to Barteak’s £8million Avon House development on Stratford Road, Shirley. The Stourbridge based company has taken the 2,140 sq ft showroom located on the ground floor of Barteak’s 28,500 sq ft Grade A office development on a 10 year lease.

David Back, managing director of Barteak Developments Ltd, said: “Avanti had been searching for four years for suitable premises in Shirley, which is testament to the fact that interest for quality accommodation along this stretch of Stratford Roadis profoundly high. Avanti’s showroom will complement the office space at Avon House and it will make for a very attractive street frontage – something that a number of office buildings fail to create.”

22,539 sq ft of Grade A office space is available to let at the totally refurbished building. On completion of the construction programme, the building is expected to achieve a ‘Very Good’ rating. The architect for the scheme is the Birmingham office of international design practice Aedas and the interior of the building is based on a contemporary design theme.

Lynn Hopkins, sales director for Avanti, said: “This deal will mark the opening of our 13th showroom and after a four year search, we are delighted to have finally found suitable premises in Shirley. Whilst we already have a showroom in Solihull, the strength of our client base in the borough steered us towards expanding here. However, our long wait for the perfect premises may be an indication that more high quality opportunities such as Avon House are needed in Shirley.” Joint agents for the scheme are Will Ventham of CBRE and Martin Bloomer of Martin Bloomer Associates.

In Worcestershire chartered surveyors and auctioneers Bigwood have clinched a major deal with the Enterprise Rent-A-Car company, ERAC, at its Redditch site.

Bigwood has arranged the letting of new offices of 1,700 sq ft to ERAC which means the company now occupies 11,000 sq ft in total plus a large compound all wrapped up in a 15-year lease.

ERAC spokesman Spencer King said: “Our Redditch facility is our regional head office as well as a branch for the town and has approximately 70 employees which are a combination of rental staff and administration personnel.”