Work to transform a car showroom in Harrogate on Leeds Road into a new Marks and Spencer Simply Food store gets under way on Monday (15 July).
The current occupants, Vertu PLC, are due to vacate the site by the end of the month when work will begin to demolish the buildings.
The project, which will transform the Leeds Road, Hookstone Road and Leadhall Lane junction, will begin its initial phase on Hookstone Road on Monday, with temporary traffic lights for roadworks expected to cause some congestion.
The project is being development managed by St James Securities on behalf of Hornbeam Park Developments Ltd and the contractors are GMI Construction Group PLC.
St James Securities Construction Director Dan Murray said:
Undoubtedly there will be some traffic delays during this project but we will do our best to mitigate these as much as we can. We delayed the start of works until after the Great Yorkshire Show and planned it close to the school summer holidays when traffic volumes reduce.
The end result will be a much-improved junction and, therefore, improved traffic flow, as well as a superb new store and a big improvement to the look of the site.
Changes to the junction were among the conditions of planning consent and the developers will be working with North Yorkshire Highways department throughout the project.
The new c32,000sq ft development will be accessed from Beech Avenue, with an exit on to Hookstone Road, and will have extensive parking.
The junction improvements will see a widening of the carriageway to provide an extra lane for town centre-bound traffic, new traffic lights and resurfacing of the whole junction as well as improved crossing facilities for pedestrians.
The demolition, construction and highways work is expected to take about a year, with the fitting out for the new store then beginning.
St James Securities is an award winning Leeds-based commercial property development company with expertise in development projects including retail and food stores. GMI Construction Group, also based in Leeds, has a proven track record for delivering award winning projects for an international portfolio of developers, public sectors and blue chip companies.
long delays is a massive understatement , may be if there was more than 1 man on the job and you worked over 4pm . you would get the job finished. its very poor that i have to wait 40 minutes in a bloody long queue . i will send my bill to you for my loss of earnings for always being late, your men on the job have no urgency to finish the job and open the lane ,