Plans for innovative ‘box park’ at Hartlepool retail park

Tees Bay Retail Park owners Mason & Partners are set to seek planning permission from Hartlepool Borough Council for the scheme which sees shipping containers transformed into shop units.

The proposed Box Park development in Hartlepool at the Brenda Road shopping park will comprise of six shipping containers of various sizes.

Similar developments have been implemented around the world including Dubai and in London.

Examples closer to home can be found in Gateshead and Teesside Retail Park.

A planning associate that is working on the application on behalf of the applicants stated: “The application will be submitted to the planning department in the next few weeks.

End users for the units are not yet confirmed however interest is welcomed at this stage.”

It follows more than £6 million of investment at Tees Bay Retail Park in recent years which has been spent on refurbishment of existing units, provision of new units and improvements to landscaping and car parking.

Recent additions include a new Lidl supermarket and drive-thru Starbucks, while plans for a new Burger King restaurant were passed in January.

The planning associate added: “It is envisaged that providing the container park development at Tees Bay will allow operators which require a smaller floor space or operators which already have an online presence and wish to capitalise on the busy location to locate within the Retail Park.

“This will allow Tees Bay compete with shopping destinations such at Teesside Park and Dalton Park.

“By providing this innovative retail offer, not only will there be economic benefits to Hartlepool in terms of expanding the variety of units at the retail park and job creation but in turn this will result in a wider subsequent economic and social gain in terms of what the retail park has to offer to Hartlepool residents and in attracting shoppers from elsewhere such as Teesside Park and Dalton Park.”

Plans show four of the shipping container units are planned to go next to The Range and two in front of it.

The floor space of the units varies from 140 to around 1,200 square feet.