Hermes Parcelnet confirmed its pre-let of a circa 80,000 sq ft bespoke parcel delivery warehouse at Panattoni’s 360,000 sq ft Panattoni Park Bolton in the North West.
Carl Lyon, Chief Operating Officer at Hermes, said: “This new site represents another key growth milestone for us, and the size and scale of our new Bolton depot will enable us to continue to process record levels of parcels for our clients, both large and small.”
The whole development which includes a further 280,698 sq ft warehouse has been forward funded by real estate investment manager Barings to the tune of £42.5 million as reported in Logistics Manager in December last year.
The project is being delivered on Wingates Industrial Estate, an established logistics and light industrial location, and once completed will comprise of approximately 358,500 sq ft of new Grade A space across two units.
Hermes’ facility totals 77,800 sq ft and has been taken on a 15-year lease. The second and larger property is being developed speculatively. The entire project is expected to achieve BREEAM “Very Good” certification.
The scheme is located one mile from Junction 6 of the M61.
Darren Hutchinson, Managing Director, Head of UK Real Estate Transactions at Barings, said: “The UK is one of Europe’s most developed online retail markets and the last few months of lockdown have highlighted the resilience and importance of logistics real estate. Demand looks set to continue growing as a result of Covid-19, which has expedited the shift to online.
“The pre-letting of one unit to Hermes has de-risked an element of the project and with a strong degree of occupier interest in the second unit already, we believe this development is well placed to capture the demand for Grade A stock in prime locations in the north west of England.”
TSL Projects has already begun work on the facilities, which are being built to a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’ and an EPC rating of ‘A’. Both units will be completed by June 2021, allowing Hermes to be fully operational well ahead of the traditional Christmas peak.
Barings was advised by Knight Frank and CMS.
DTRE, Savills and Knight Frank are the retained letting agents on the scheme. LSH acted for Hermes Parcelnet.
