Brand new 'state-of-the-art' storage centre to open in former Walsall bowling alley

Councillor Louise Harrison, Deputy Mayor of Walsall, will cut the ribbon on the new Nest Storage Centre at Old Hall Industrial Estate in Bloxwich on January 28.

Wolverhampton-based Westbeech Group Ltd says the facility, housed in what used to be a bowling alley and a snooker hall, will be "powered by the latest technology", with access to each unit controlled by a mobile app. 

Ian Houghton, managing director of the company, said they had researched the self storage market for the past 18 months before electing to partner with Engage, a Birmingham-based business which runs and manages 22 similar units for 15 different brands across the UK.

"Self storage is a well developed industry but most of the big players in the market constructed their dedicated units in the past 5-10 years," he said.

"Since then, technology has changed dramatically what we can do and, particularly in the last 18 months, has taken giant strides forward.

"We believe we are launching with a cutting edge product that is designed for today’s tech-savvy customers. Our first unit has been custom designed with new technology inbuilt, whereas retrofitting can cost between £50,000 and £100,000 per site."

Mr Houghton’s company Westbeech Group owns a number of industrial estates across the West Midlands and say they are negotiating for a second site in Wolverhampton.

The company says its first Nest Storage unit is available 24x7 across 365 days of the year. Entry and storage can be fully online and automated via a dedicated app that allows the client renting the unit to come and go as they please.

“While this technology can be utilised fully automatically, we have chosen to staff our first unit in order to facilitate our early users and ensure they feel comfortable with the technology. We will have a manager at the site from 9am-5.30pm Monday to Friday and help available by phone in the evenings and on weekends," he added.