Last mile real estate specialist Valor Real Estate Partners, has completed a 57,000ft² 15-year pre-let to Specialist Computer Centres at Oscar House in Birmingham, having acquired the urban logistics property in 2021.
The property has undergone a significant refurbishment programme, which included a 6,000ft² extension and a number of sustainability initiatives that improved the building’s EPC rating from a D to an A.
The programme completed in February 2023 and included fully upgrading the building fabric to improve energy efficiency, installing modern systems including VRF heating, LED lighting and low-use water technologies, and the installation EV charging stations.
A green clause in the lease mandates the sharing of energy usage data to ensure the asset operates as efficiently as possible.
Birmingham is a key growth market for Valor. Logistics take-up in 2022 was 58% above the long-term average, and with a limited development pipeline, vacancy rates remain close to historic lows at c. 3%.
Will Outram, Associate, Asset Management at Valor, commented: “Oscar House is the latest example of our ability to identify critically undersupplied pockets in dominant European cities where we can generate both capital and rental uplifts through targeted asset management.
“We are increasingly focused on delivering a highly sustainable product via retrofitting, which reduces the embodied carbon, and both supports our tenants in achieving their own ESG goals and is more cost-efficient to occupy.”
Valor was advised on the letting by Harris Lamb, Savills, and Avison Young.
