Smith and Nephew: Plans submitted for new £100m site

The company said it did not want to be a "big box in a field"

Medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew has submitted plans for a new multi-million pound site.

The company announced plans to move from Hull, where it was formed in 1856, to Melton West business park, in East Yorkshire, in June.

It said it had outgrown its existing site on Hessle Road, which consists of nine separate buildings.

A date for East Riding of Yorkshire Council to consider the plans has not been set.

Planning documents state the current Hull site is disjointed and inefficient, with limited scope for expansion.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the firm will invest almost £100m in the new site, including a three-storey building.

Production space would cover most of the ground floor, with the rest featuring a foyer, warehousing and research and development laboratories.

The first and second floors would be made up of offices, laboratories and dining facilities.

A small lake and pond will be built, in part to help with drainage, and a lake house gym, running track and outdoor spaces for meetings also feature.

The company said a key design principle was the "great outdoors".

"Smith & Nephew do not want a box in a field, they want their site to be recognisable and for it to celebrate their history and their prominence in the city," it said.

The firm said it had outgrown its current site on Hessle Road in Hull

The new site would enable the company, which employs about 800 people at present, to "increase and grow the research and development capabilities of the Advanced Wound Management, which supports highly skilled jobs".

The site will have 540 parking bays for staff and visitors, including 17 disabled bays and 24 electric vehicle charging points along with 80 cycling spaces.

Planning documents stated the company had met with ward councillors, who were broadly supportive of the plans, while a newsletter sent to residents detailing the plans and asking for views had received no response.