There are just five grade A building over 100,000 sq ft left in the East Midlands, so what do you do if you need a big shed fast?
The amount of available Grade A space in the East Midlands fell by more than ten per cent in the third quarter of 2012, according to the latest research figures from Jones Lang LaSalle. And that is the largest fall for any region in the UK.
In fact there are only five grade A buildings over 100,000 sq ft on the market in the region and two of those are rumoured to be under offer.
The buildings include Miller Birch and Standard Life’s Langley 255 warehouse in Nottinghamshire, totalling 255,000 sq ft at @ccess 26, Langley Mill, Derbyshire, a 30-acre industrial and distribution development near Junction 26 of the M1 motorway.
The warehouse boasts 12m eaves, 20 dock and four level access doors, fitted offices with comfort cooling and raised floors, as well as 68 lorry parking bays and 163 car parking spaces. The building has been on the market since it was completed in 2006. Letting agents are North Rae Sanders, CBRE and Innes England.
Then there is the Arrow building near Worksop, which was forward sold to AXA REIM and built by Gazeley. The 330,418 sq ft high bay distribution facility boasts four level access doors, 32 dock level doors, 220 car parking spaces, 91 HGV or trailer parking spaces, 15,600 sq ft of offices on two floors, 312,000 sq ft of warehousing, security fencing and a 300 sq ft gatehouse. Letting agents are GVA and Knight Frank. The biggest of the available buildings is Moorfield and SEGRO’s LPP Corby (formerly known as Crackerjack).
The 525,000 sq ft cross-docked warehouse has a 15m eaves height as well as 50 dock and four level access doors. It has capacity to store 77,000 pallets. The building has two service yards and parking for 98 lorries and 336 cars. Letting agents are Burbage Realty, CBRE and GVA.
The two rumoured to be under offer include PRUPIM and Stoford’s Measham 42 warehouse in Leicestershire. The facility totals 142,358 sq ft and is thought to be under offer to Wolseley. It has 12m eaves as well as 12 dock and two level access doors with 50m of hard standing and a 50kn/sqm floor loading. Letting agent Colliers was asking £4.75 per sq ft or £60 per sq ft freehold.
The other property under offer is The Core, a 167,000 sq ft warehouse near Chesterfield, which had been let to marketing and logistics services company, ProLog on a ten-year lease with five-year break and a rent of around £4.25 per sq ft. The building is now on the market again but is already thought to be under offer.
It was built by Langham Developments and boasts 12.5m eaves, 15 dock and two level access doors, a 50kN/sq m floor loading, as well as up to 2mVA power availability. Letting agents are Fisher Hargreaves Proctor and Lambert Smith Hampton.
While there may not be that many Grade A buildings there are certainly some good second hand units available including the ex-Blacks Leisure building at Swan Valley which is being marketed by Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE and North Rae Sanders. The building totals 189,663 sq ft and boasts 12m eaves as well as 17 dock and three level access doors.
Like many second hand units the facility comes with a host of extras such as heating, lighting and sprinklers as well as narrow aisle pallet racking (17,000 positions), a floor wire guidance system and three mezzanine floor levels.
Other well kitted-out second hand buildings include the former Ryder Trucks unit at Brackmills totalling 104,573 sq ft with internal two storey offices as well as six dock and two level access doors on a 6.87 acre site. The building has 10.7m eaves, has a sprinkler system and comes partially racked. Letting agents are North Rae Sanders and Altus Edwin Hill.
Also at Brackmills there is the former Debenhams building which is being marketed by CBRE, Burbage Realty and Moriarty & Co. The property is located on Mercury Drive approximately 2.5 miles from junction 15 of the M1 motorway.
The fully fitted cross dock distribution warehouse totals 111,485 sq ft and has 9m eaves, 12 dock and five level access doors as well as a 2 storey mezzanine floor – currently fitted with a garment handling system, heating lighting to warehouse and a staff canteen and welfare facilities.
For those requiring larger sheds there is Goodman’s 275,867 sq ft Unit B warehouse at Royal Oak in Daventry which is being marketed by North Rae Sanders and Colliers.
The warehouse has 9.4m eaves, 15 dock levellers and level access doors which could be extended, as well as heating, lighting and sprinkler provision. It is being marketed at a rent of £4 per sq ft.
There is also the massive 511,000 sq ft monster at Max Park, Corby which is being vacated by Wincanton. It will be available on a sublease or assignment through Savills and Cushman & Wakefield.
Luckily second hand space is where occupiers can garner good terms and more importantly shorter leases. Simon Norton of Colliers says that rents for secondary properties (i.e. those built during the early 1990s), have not seen increases unlike prime stock where rents have increased up to 25p per sq ft in the past year in hot locations such as Northampton.
Demand
While take-up of space is down on previous years David Binks of Cushman & Wakefield says that occupiers will have to move quickly to secure properties. “Take up is down not because there isn’t the demand but there is no supply.”
On the second hand front there are a number of deals in the offing and space is trading relatively quickly. John Lewis is rumoured to have snapped up a 212,000 sq ft warehouse in Max Park Corby as a stop gap while it continues its search for a larger facility while Great Bear hoovered up ProLogis’ 153,000 sq ft warehouse at ProLogis Park Kettering.
With so little on the market many occupiers have had to turn to D&B to fulfil their needs. And developers in the region have not been slow off the mark to ensure that they are prepared to accommodate enquiries.
Gazeley has planning for just over 2 million sq ft of logistics space ready for development in the region. The developer has been investing millions in infrastructure works across the whole of its development portfolio which includes its 95 acre G.Park Crick scheme in the East Midlands, where it has planning consent for a single unit of 1.1 million sq ft.
G.Park Crick is located just off junction 18 of the M1 motorway. Letting agents are Dowley Turner Real Estate and CBRE.
Gazeley also has Magna Park Lutterworth where there is one site known as Plot 2010 which has planning for a unit 104,000 sq ft as well as a further 40 acre plot at G.Park Newark which could accommodate up to 750,000 sq ft.
The jewel in its crown though is the 200 acre Magna Park Milton Keynes where it has planning for up to 3.4 million sq ft in units from 100,000 sq ft to 1 million sq ft.
Recently it secured a D&B with Irn-Bru maker AG Barr to open a 265,000 sq ft warehouse and production plant. Letting agents are Savills, Jones Lang LaSalle and Burbage Realty.
Another developer making headway in the region is Roxhill which has just launched its 240 acre distribution and manufacturing park Gateway Peterborough.
The scheme which could accommodate up to 5 million sq ft is expected to create up to 8,000 jobs. The company has already sold a plot to Yearsley, which has set out plans to build a 385,000 sq ft cold store as part of its national expansion programme. Yearsley hopes that the site will be operational by the end of this year.
The clad-rack cold store will consist of two buildings of similar design and in total provide 385,000 sq ft of space, including 10,000 sq ft of office space. The highest parts of the buildings will be 35 metres with other parts of the facility at 23 metres.
Detailed planning permission at Peterborough Gateway has been obtained for 1.8 million sq ft of B1, B2 and B8 uses with no operational restrictions. The remaining land benefits from outline planning consent for the same uses. The park is accessed at Junction 1 of the Fletton Parkway adjacent to Junction 17 of the A1 (M) motorway. The first phase of building work includes a dual carriageway to provide access to the park, along with several roads through it.
Buildings on offer will range from 95,000 sq ft to a massive 1.3 million sq ft. Joint letting agents are North Rae Sanders, Bidwells and Burbage Realty.
Roxhill also has sites at Warth Park, Raunds where it has outline planning for two to three buildings up to 350,000 sq ft. Letting agents are CBRE, NRS and Lambert Smith Hampton. Then there is CIRFT in Corby (formerly known as COR!) where there is permission for an 880,000 sq ft rail connected warehouse.
It’s largest and possibly most ambitious development to date is the East Midlands Gateway which is expected to qualify under the government’s new planning rules as a “multi-modal scheme of strategic national importance” and thereby eligible to be brought before the Secretary of State.
The 6 million sq ft scheme has already been allocated for an SRFI in the draft North West Leicestershire Core Strategy. It is located by junction 24 of the M1 motorway near East Midlands Airport.
Developer Goodman has 100 acres at Derby Commercial Park, where it has permission for a 1.2 million sq ft unit. Letting agents are North Rae Sanders, CBRE and Innes England. Then there is Gladman’s Vertical Park on the site of the former Bevercotes colliery, near Nottingham where there is planning for outline consent for a single facility of 2 million sq ft with a 30m eaves height. Letting agents are Lambert Smith Hampton and DTZ.
Grafton Gate has a joint venture agreement with UK Coal on a 70 acre site near Ellistown in Leicestershire where units up to 320,000 sq ft can be accommodated. The sole agent is North Rae Sanders.
ProLogis has land at Daventry Phase III which could take up to 730,000 sq ft in three building as well as a plot at Zone 2 on Phase II at DIRFT which could take a single building of 400,000 sq ft.
The final phase at DIRFT could take a further 6 million sq ft but still has a long way to go before it is brought forward.
The developer still has its Eurohub Main site in Corby which could accommodate 2.5 million sq ft as well as its 49 acre ProLogis Park Mansfield scheme which is fully serviced and ready to go, accommodating buildings from 20,000 – 500,000 sq ft.
Evander has its 18 acre Grange Park scheme in Northampton at Junction 15 of the M1 motorway which it will bring forward in conjunction with BA Pension Fund. The site could accommodate up to 360,000 sq ft. Letting agents are Dowley Turner and Butler Hardcastle.
Warwickshire-based IM Properties has teamed up with First Industrial to develop its 45 acre site off the M1 in Eastwood, Nottingham known as Nottingham 26, where it intends to implement works to provide the site infrastructure to enable it to deliver a bespoke building within 12 months. It is thought the site could accommodate up to 900,000 sq ft of space. Letting agents are Fisher Hargreaves Proctor, North Rae Sanders and Dove Haigh Philips.
Colliers is marketing West Hallam Park in Nottinghamshire which could take up to 1 million sq ft. The 102 acre scheme is a joint venture between Canmoor and Delancey.
So while there are opportunities to acquire space if you look, Ranjit Gill of BNP Paribas Real Estate notes: “On existing stock there will be very little incentive on a five year lease. Things have moved on significantly from days gone by and most people with a good building will hold out for a higher rental and stiffer terms on the deal. Even non-prime locations are holding out for full rents.”
Simon Lloyd of DTZ agrees: “Landlords’ terms are more aggressive than they were 12 months ago for the better quality buildings.”
