DOBBIES Garden Centre has applied to Midlothian Council for planning permission to double the size of its head office building at Melville Nursery, Lasswade.
The £3.5m project involves a 22,000sq ft extension to the existing 19,000sq ft head office building. Backed by new owners Tesco, Dobbies has ambitious expansion plans and the intention is to increase the size of the Midlothian head office to manag
e this.
The extension would include a staff gym, breakout areas with coffee bars and would increase staff capacity from the current 100 head office employees to 300.
Stuart Wright, director of property at Dobbies, said: "Dobbies is committed to staying at the forefront of garden centre retailing.
"As our business grows and develops we need to create extra capacity at our Midlothian head office, where we have been based for nearly 100 years. We will be working closely with the Council on the plans in order to obtain permission for the application."
The new development will be environmentally sustainable, with a number of eco features included in the proposed extension.
These include a biomass boiler, which could one day provide heat for the whole of the Melville site, a grey water system and imaginative use of renewable timber in the construction to create a natural look and feel to the building.
Dobbies, established in 1865, operates 24 stores across Scotland and England. The company plans three more in 2009.
The full article contains 246 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
