A PROPERTY landlord is moving in a green direction with his fast growing developments.

Mickey Jones of DJ Property has recently overseen the refurbishment of Egdon Hall serviced offices in Lynch Lane, Weymouth, formerly the Synergy Housing offices.

He has also seen £14million Weymouth development Link Park grow in size with Halfords Autocentre, Tool Station and Screwfix opening their doors in recent weeks.

Mr Jones says sustainability is a key factor for making decisions on development.

Solar panels have been installed at his Lynch Lane offices and will provide a proportion of power for the 56 offices on site.

Mr Jones said: “We’ve put a huge PV (photovoltaic) panel in to improve the building.

“It’s about making sure you future-proof your building.”

When DJ Property’s Regulus Works offices in Lynch Lane were demolished, building material was recycled.

Mr Jones said: “All timber, steel and metal were recycled.

“It was all heaped on the site and re-used.”

A key part of the green vision for Link Park, on the Chickerell Link Road, is to encourage workers to use cycles to get to work “Link Park joins up with the Olympic cycle path, two main roads and a bus stop. It’s ideal.

“That encourages green travel so people don’t have to rely on cars,” Mr Jones said.

Sustainability is key when it comes to economising as a business, he added.

“Making your building more sustainable is not about the environment, it’s about making money.

“The government has to hit carbon emission targets and business rates will be determined by the energy performance rates of your building.

“This is a way for the government to put pressure on everyone to have fewer emissions,” he said.

Mr Jones pointed to the role the local authority plays in attracting businesses in the borough and retaining them.

Ian Doyle, economic development manager at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, said the authority can help local businesses.

He added: “85 per cent of businesses in Dorset are small or medium sized enterprises.

“Many of them operate out of bedrooms, a lot of them can only expand by moving out of the county. Everything is wrong about that.

“24 per cent of premises do not have access to super fast broadband.

“It’s the rurality of the place that’s a problem. My job has been to get money to get access funding for super fast broadband.”

Mr Jones said super-fast broadband will help draw businesses to the area.

“If people can do more work remotely they won’t need to go to work and businesses can have less space and people can hot desk.

Mr Doyle added: “The role of the local authority is to improve the infrastructure and enable more people to get to places and make more places user-friendly.”

Agreement

MR Jones is agreeing final terms with two more businesses for the Link Park site.

There is one more unit to let in phase one and the planning application for phase two will be submitted soon.

By the time the development is complete, there will be one employee per 100 sq ft of office space.