Panattoni, the largest industrial real estate developer in Europe, today announced it has begun speculatively developing a 575,000 sq ft logistics park at junction 28 of the M1 in the East Midlands.

Panattoni Park J28 Central M1 will comprise two units of 345,000 sq ft and 230,000 sq ft, which are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and will be built to a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’ and an EPC rating of ‘A’.

The 345,000 sq ft facility will benefit from 15m clear internal height, 32 dock doors, 4 level access, 291 car parking spaces, including electric charging points for cars and vans and 49 HGV spaces. The 230,000 sq ft facility will benefit from 15m clear internal height, 22 dock doors, 3 level access, 260 car parking spaces and 41 HGV spaces.

Buckingham Group Contracting has been appointed main contractor on site.

Junction 28 of the M1 is an important logistics location in the East Midlands, as it is almost equidistant between Birmingham and Manchester, the UK’s second and third largest cities, and offers the ability to easily serve from the Midlands to Yorkshire. The park lies to the east of the junction, fronting the A38, which links it directly to Birmingham via Derby. The M1 link puts both Sheffield and Nottingham within easy reach.

Andy Preston, Development Director at Panattoni, said: “This is a key logistics location in the UK, as 71% of the UK can be reached within a 4.5-hour HGV journey. The park can serve as a centre for same day e-fulfilment operations or as a national and regional distribution hub.

“We are excited to be bringing forward Grade-A buildings in a supply-starved market and we are already having conversations with potential occupiers, struggling to find suitable existing buildings”.

Panattoni Park J28 Central M1 is part of Panattoni’s commitment to a significant speculative development programme in the UK in response to strong demand from occupiers for immediately available space.

Letting agents are FHP and CBRE.