Property consultant, Colliers and Lambert Smith Hampton, have been appointed by Associated British Ports (ABP) to bring to market 30 acres of land at the Port of Southampton. The sites are designated for around 700,000ft2 of manufacturing or logistics development.
The land is split across two locations: the 22-acre Redbridge site, which benefits from Freeport status, and also an eight-acre site on the Marchwood Industrial Park.
The sites are part of a national initiative by ABP which will see it release more than 1,000 acres to support the UK’s supply chain, manufacturing and renewable energy sectors.
It has been estimated that a business leasing a 100,000ft2 warehouse for 25 years in a freeport location could achieve tax savings of more than £4 million in its first five years of occupation.
Marchwood Industrial Park is a well-established industrial site and is already home to more than 60 businesses.
The growth of online retailing is creating unprecedented demand for logistics space. The UK currently has the third highest e-commerce penetration ratio globally at 24% with annual online spend of approaching £100 billion. The online spending ratio is forecast to rise to 32% by 2025. It is estimated that for every additional £1 billion of online spend around one million ft2 of logistics space is needed to fulfil delivery.
“With its port and extensive transport connections, Southampton is a major strategic UK location and also serves a wide catchment in the south of England,” commented Len Rosso, Head of Industrial & Logistics at Colliers. “More than £70 billion of goods flow through the port each year and we see these sites as being of particular interest to logistics operators and also to manufacturers that are either bringing their raw materials into the UK by sea or exporting their finished products by the same routes.”
