Expanding Dunelm reveals plans for new head office at Syston

Homewares retailer Dunelm has revealed artist impressions and the location of a new head office planned for the county

The group wants to build the new premises in Watermead Business Park, Syston, and it will be about twice the size of its current headquarters in nearby Fosse Way.
It told the Leicester Mercury in September that it wanted to expand after reporting "excellent trading" in the summer months.

The 55,000sq ft building will give the business the space to increase its current head office workforce of 150. It is expected to open in the summer of 2011.

Chief executive Will Adderley said: "The new site will provide spacious new facilities for the business and all Dunelm Group head office staff and provide onsite car parking.
"Remaining in the Syston area was an important aspect in our choice of a site for the head office as it has proved to be a successful location for the business."We are all looking forward to moving to the new offices."

Tom Watkinson, managing director of Raynsway Properties, which owns Watermead Business Park, said: "Dunelm is one of Leicester's biggest success stories and we are delighted to have agreed this land deal which will enable them to relocate to the Watermead Business Park."

A planning application for the development has been submitted.

Dunelm Mill, founded in 1979 in Leicester Market, has grown consistently in the past 30 years.
On Christmas Eve, it is due to open its 100th store – in Cheltenham – meaning it will have doubled the number of stores in seven years.

In November, the firm said that despite economic uncertainty, it had seen sales soar to £154.7m in the 17 weeks to October – compared to £123.3m in the same period last year.
The company said it was a like-for-like increase of about 15%.

Dunelm employs 400 people in Leicestershire at the head office and manufacturing facilities, including a curtain factory in Blackbird Road, Leicester.

The property slump has helped the group because it has opened up more potential locations for stores, while the recession has seen the end of some of Dunelm's competition – notably Rosebys and Woolworths.
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