A WEYMOUTH medical business has been given permission for an expansion  - which could create a further 125 jobs.

Medisave UK Ltd, a global supplier of medical consumable and diagnostics products, has submitted its planning request to Dorset Council for a two-storey extension at its Mercery Road retail park premises in November.

This week the council has approved the scheme.

The proposal allows an additional 1,495 square metres of class B8 and E floor space, plus associated car parking and landscaping and would allow the business to more than double the size of its workforce.

The extension allows for a a ground floor warehouse with upstairs mezzanine areas, as well as additional car parking for 50 vehicles. Access will remain off Mercery Road.

Planning officers said that although the new building will appear to have a greater scale, mass and height, it would not be out of place considering other developments taking place at Mount Pleasant, including the recent Aldi supermarket next door.

One of the conditions of the consent is that work should not start until a hard and soft landscaping scheme has been signed off by planning officers.

Medisave, which supplies items including stethoscopes and medical uniforms, has warehouse facilities around the world, but has its headquarters in Weymouth. There are approximately 100 full time members of staff based at the Mercery Road HQ. The expansion would enable the business to recruit a further 125 full time and five part-time employees, with the building to be used for storage, distribution and sales administration.

The rectangular new building will be built in buff brickwork at is lower level, with panelled cladding above. A feature, green, ‘living’ wall is planned on the front elevation of the unit.

Medisave was launched in 2000 by local business partners Graham Wright and Melissa Denton. It started its life at the Jubilee Business Park but later acquired the Mercery Road property in 2012, which was built as part of the first phase of the Mercery Road development.

Temporary warehouses were constructed in 2017 to provide additional storage space - and in 2019 the business purchased land immediately to the south of Medisave House so that the proposed permanent extension could be built.