INDUSTRIAL and warehouse property has been one of the success stories of the last few years, becoming the darling of investors as demand has risen through a combination of factors.
Firstly, the rise of e-commerce has seen huge growth in demand from retailers and logistics organisations that have been re-organising their supply chains to assist with home deliveries.
Secondly, the weakness of the pound in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has boosted manufacturing with commercial property agents JLL reporting that manufacturers were the most active source of industrial take-up in the first half of 2017, at 35 per cent of the total.
All this leaves the scene perfectly set for joint developers SEGRO and Roxhill to announce availability at their 70-acre SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway site, which has just undergone £10m of preparatory work and is located directly adjacent to Junction 10 of the A14. The site has planning consent for industrial and warehouse development, along with an element of roadside and office use.
The site is superbly located, being less than 90 minutes’ drive for Heavy Goods Vehicles from Nottingham, London, Birmingham, Leicester and the centre of Kettering, which is just seven minutes away.
The ports of Tilbury (one hour and 44 minutes), Felixstowe (one hour and 52 minutes), Harwich (two hours and seven minutes) and Immingham (two hours and 16 minutes) are also within good reach, as are the rail ports of DIRFT (33 minutes) and Hams Hall (57 minutes).
This means there is likely to be strong demand for the industrial and warehouse units on offer at SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway, which range in size from 50,000 square feet to 275,000 square feet with an extremely high specification.
Gareth Osborn, SEGRO Business Unit Director, Thames Valley & National Logistics, said: “This is SEGRO’s first development in Kettering after a long history of successfully supplying best-in-class industrial and warehouse property across the UK. We anticipate strong demand for SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway, and look forward to working with Roxhill on this exciting project.”
The advanced specification at Kettering includes full connectivity to 10MW of power and fibre broadband, vehicle charge points, 50-metre yards and comfort cooling in associated offices.
In addition, the development has first-rate sustainability credentials, including rainwater harvesting, solar thermal heating, low energy high frequency lighting in offices, intelligent lighting controls in offices, a minimum BREEAM `Very Good’ rating and carbon neutral build options.
There are also all the benefits of being a privately managed estate, with SEGRO (newly promoted to the FTSE-100 list of Britain’s leading companies) one of the most capable operators in the industrial and warehouse sector.
SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway plans to attract a diverse range of businesses, with a good mix of small and medium-sized businesses alongside larger companies. Local occupiers include Morrisons, Weetabix and Alpro and there are other important developments planned for the area.
These include the planned Kettering East urban extension which has outline consent for 5,500 new homes, and the planned Energy Park to the south-east of SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway.
It all adds up to a continuing strong picture overall for the East Midlands warehouse and industrial market.
According to top agent Savills’ July 2017 Big Shed Briefing, despite the soaring demand for industrial and warehouse property, supply has remained relatively stable over the last 10 months.
In previous property cycles the supply of warehouse development has soared out of control – particularly in the debt-fuelled build-up to the 2008-2009 global financial crisis – but this scenario looks unlikely to repeat itself in the East Midlands this time around.
According to Savills, the vacancy rate in the region sits at only 5.8 per cent, and the agency reports that a number of units are close to going under offer, with some large scale occupiers seeking space before the end of 2017.
Nationally, Savills report that the industrial and warehouse market has conformed to long-term take-up averages, with the firm saying: ‘with no sign of over development in the sector, the market is well positioned.’
Back in the Kettering area, supply is tightening up, with several factors limiting the availability of new space. One factor is the recently completed development at Roxhill’s Warth Park in Raunds.
There are also delays in the delivery of other schemes in the area, meaning that SEGRO Park Kettering Gateway will be well placed to support business growth in the area.
With SEGRO and Roxhill’s strong track record in delivering high quality developments rapidly, this will be good news for many organisations looking to relocate to the Kettering area.
For more details, visit www.segroparkketteringgateway.co.uk