Burberry scraps plans for Leeds manufacturing site
- It will sell the land it owns in Leeds, ending prospect of building a major manufacturing site for the city
- Plans for the site first announced in 2015, but they were then placed on hold in 2017
By guest author Elias Jahshan from Retail Gazette
Burberry has scrapped plans to building a major manufacturing site in Leeds after it put the land it owns there on sale.
The luxury fashion retailer decided to sell its 10 acres of land, located next to the Grade I listed Temple Works building, after deciding it was not suitable for its development plans.
The news effectively puts an end to prospects of new jobs and a new major manufacturing site for Leeds.
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Plans for the site were first unveiled in late 2015, but in mid-2017 it was put on hold.
Had the factory been built, Burberry would’ve opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing and weaving facility for its signature trench coat.
Temple Works had also been earmarked for a complete overhaul to replace Burberry’s manufacturing sites in Castleford and Keighley.
It would have employed more than 1000 people.
The Leeds site will now be sold to an unnamed buyer and Burberry will focus on investing on its existing sites at Castleford and Keighley.
Meanwhile, the heritage brand said it would continue to grow its Leeds business services site that opened in 2017, which currently houses about 400 staff across finance, HR, procurement, customer services and IT.
“We can confirm that we have decided to sell the land we own in central Leeds,” Burberry chief operation and financial officer Julie Brown told The Yorkshire Post.
“After a detailed review, we concluded that the site is not suitable to support our plans.
“We remain committed to Yorkshire and the UK, and as part of this we will continue to invest in our existing manufacturing operations in Castleford and Keighley, home to our iconic Burberry Heritage trench coat.”