Victoria Hills, CEO of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), and staff, had the opportunity to tour businesses in the Park Royal industrial area, which spans 584 hectares.
If you are not familiar with Park Royal, it is home to over 2,300 businesses and 36,000 employees. These impressive figures are further enhanced, when you discover that Park Royal produces and processes over 30% of all the food consumed in London.
Park Royal isn’t just an area connected to food production though, as it is also home to many creative businesses. Our tour started with one of Park Royal’s incredibly creative businesses, Park Royal Studios.
In a nutshell, Park Royal Studios provides studio hire and facilities for photographic and film shoots, events and product launches. There are four large drive-in studios and walking into one of them, with the lights out, gives the impression of walking in heaven as it appears to go on for miles. It was an incredible experience. And, although name dropping wouldn’t be appropriate, most would be seriously impressed with the clients and celebrities that have been hosted here.
The next stop was Kolak Snack Foods Ltd., the UK’s second largest crisp and snack manufacturer. Even though you may not have directly heard of Kolak, after our tour we can almost guarantee that you’ve tried one of their innovative, high quality snack products. Kolak manufactures both branded and own label products for all the major names and are forward-thinking in investing in technology to offer quality assured products. We found the tour of the facility astonishing and learnt that this company alone produces over 25 million packages every week for customers across the UK and overseas.
Continuing with the food theme, the last visit of the day was to Dephna Group Ltd. and their facility on Portal Way. Dephna offer commercial rental solutions including cold rooms and kitchens and are a beacon for pioneering examples of workspace intensification. Visiting the site gave the chance to see the fascinating variety of businesses that call Dephna home.
Victoria Hills said of the day:
“I thoroughly enjoyed my insightful tour behind the scenes of some of London’s hidden treasures. Park Royal has long been the top of the industrial park league table and a mainstay of west London’s economy for decades but it’s diversity of innovation and industrial mix is what puts it a cut above the rest.
“An eclectic agglomeration of SMEs, which I’m sure is unparalleled anywhere elsewhere in the country. Where else could you find manufacturers of designer gluten-free dog biscuits, world class photography studios and the second largest independent snack manufacturer in the country all within a few hundred metres of each other? I can’t wait to get back there soon to discover more!”
These are just three of the 2,300 plus businesses across the Park Royal industrial area. Each and every business based here will have a story and passionate people helping to make the area the most successful industrial area in Europe. The team at OPDC is committed to protecting and strengthening this great heritage and we want to meet each and every company and business.
Website: www.london.gov.uk/opdcTwitter: @OldOakParkRoyal
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