New 118,000 sq. ft development situated at a site in Huddersfield. GMI Construction Group has today announced the completion of a new 118,000 sq. ft purpose-built manufacturing plant in Huddersfield for Aflex Hose– a world leading manufacturer of PTFE-lined flexible hoses for the automotive, pharmaceutical, food and chemical and industries.
Gazeley, a leading investor and developer of logistics warehouses and distribution parks, is expanding Magna Park Lutterworth, Europe’s largest dedicated logistics and distribution park, from its current 9 million SQ FT of floor space to 16 million SQ FT in the coming years. Development has begun on three speculative logistics
GLP, a leading global investment manager and business builder in logistics, real estate, infrastructure, finance and related technologies, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern Europe logistics real estate portfolio, subject to regulatory approvals. GLP entered the European market in December
More than 10 million sq ft of warehouse space was under offer at the beginning of 2020 – a 233% increase since end of 2018, according to CBRE. In its latest trading update investor developer Tritax Symmetry chief executive, fund management, Colin Godfrey, said such figures looked promising for developers
Brand new 437,000 sq ft warehouse/industrial unit took 8 months to build and was completed for Evans Property Group GMI Construction Group has today announced the completion and handover of a new 437,000 sq ft warehouse/industrial development for long standing customer Evans Property Group at the Fradley Park development in
Stephen George + Partners LLP (SGP) has overseen the completion of the third and final phase of St. Modwen Park Doncaster. Having masterplanned the whole 27-acre site, SGP successfully designed and delivered the last £7 million phase, comprising more than 108,000 sq ft of industrial space, in February 2020. Working
Planning permission is now being sought for the second stage of Frontier Park, Blackburn, off the Whitebirk roundabout next to M65 junction six, with construction scheduled to start in March for completion by Christmas. Alex Kenwright, development manager for the project, has revealed three new tenants for its existing warehouse
Whether it’s the food takeaway industry utilising mobile apps or sports events using video assisted refereeing, technological advances are helping our world progress and become better. With this in mind, it’s clear that technology is evolving across every business, allowing companies to become more productive and efficient. Computer systems, such
J Tomlinson has handed over a new £5.2m industrial park in Market Harborough, which is set to create more than 200 jobs. Airfield Business Park – developed by Leicestershire County Council – will boost business and employment opportunities in the town and the local economy. A range of high-spec industrial
Industrial asset manager Chancerygate has sold more than half of the available units at its £33m Novus business park in Knutsford, after selling a further four units to two companies. Industrial valve manufacturer Oliver Valves acquired three units totalling 17,300 sq ft at the under-construction business park, increasing the company’s
New 118,000 sq. ft development situated at a site in Huddersfield. GMI Construction Group has today announced the completion of a new 118,000 sq. ft purpose-built manufacturing plant in Huddersfield for Aflex Hose– a world leading manufacturer of PTFE-lined flexible hoses for the automotive, pharmaceutical, food and chemical and industries. The new 3-storey facility which was constructed on a 12-acre site and took 52 weeks to build has been specifically designed to accommodate the company’s bespoke processes. Talking about the project GMI Divisional Managing Director Lee Powell said: “This project presented several challenges due to the highly bespoke nature of Aflex’s manufacturing processes and requirements not just now but into the future. Working closely together, GMI were able to design a state of the art, built to suit facility that is entirely geared to the company’s capacity requirements. With the facility achieving PC on time despite experiencing various challenges during construction the completion of this project represents a notable achievement for everyone involved. We would like to thank and congratulate every member of the project team for another fantastic result of which we are all notably proud. The completion of this project follows other notable successes GMI has been involved in across the manufacturing sector over the past 12 months including the completion of a 126,000 sq. ft Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing (CESAM) for Henry Boot Developments which has subsequently been transformed into a temporary Nightingale hospital for the NHS to help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Gazeley, a leading investor and developer of logistics warehouses and distribution parks, is expanding Magna Park Lutterworth, Europe’s largest dedicated logistics and distribution park, from its current 9 million SQ FT of floor space to 16 million SQ FT in the coming years. Development has begun on three speculative logistics and distribution units totalling 525,400 SQ FT and the units of 300,300 SQ FT, 126,300 SQ FT and 98,800 SQ FT will be available for occupancy in Autumn 2020. Gazeley is also preparing to construct a further unit of 746,500 SQ FT, subject to planning permission. In total Magna Park South, Lutterworth can accommodate 2.8 million SQ FT with build-to-suit options available in a range of sizes. In addition, a further extension to the Northern side of the park is also being developed on 225 acres of land, which will offer build-to-suit development options in a range of sizes with units from 100,000 SQ FT up to 1,000,000 SQ FT in a single unit, and overall up to 3.3 million SQ FT across the Northern side of the park. As a result, Magna Park Lutterworth will increase in size from its current 9 million SQ FT of floor space to a total of nearly 16 million SQ FT in the coming years. Both extensions to the park have been designed to include a range of leading sustainability features, including a fully landscaped country park with over one million trees already planted at Magna Park. The developments will also come equipped with online energy dashboards to help customers monitor energy usage, as well as rainwater harvesting and technology to optimise the use of natural light. In addition, the new buildings are expected to receive a BREAAM Excellent certification. Also planned, to further enhance the community benefits for the occupiers at Magna Park, are a series of new amenities, including wellness and recreation facilities and a lorry park, together with a Logistics Institute of Technology (LIT). Magna Park Lutterworth benefits from excellent transport links to the rest of the UK, with 59.3 million people, or 85% of the UK population, within four hours’ truck drive-time of the development, owing to its easy access to the M1, M6 and M69 motorways. Bruce Topley, Senior Development Director at Gazeley said: “Magna Park, Lutterworth is an iconic development, well known across the UK and Europe and recognised as an outstanding location for distribution and logistics, home to a host of leading companies and operators. “In light of the continued high demand for logistics space, particularly in this area, we are confident that these buildings will be a welcome addition to the market. Situated right in the heart of the “UK’s Logistics Golden Triangle”, the development is ideally suited to serve the fast-expanding supply chain operations of our customers.”
GLP, a leading global investment manager and business builder in logistics, real estate, infrastructure, finance and related technologies, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern Europe logistics real estate portfolio, subject to regulatory approvals. GLP entered the European market in December 2017 through the acquisition of Gazeley, a developer, investor and manager of European logistics warehouses and distribution parks with a 2.4 million sqm portfolio across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. The addition of this unique, high-quality portfolio that is spread across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary will expand GLP’s European presence to 10 countries and it will join a select number of logistics real estate investors with a truly pan-European portfolio. The acquired 2.4 million sqm portfolio is concentrated on key logistics routes across the region with access to growing markets for e-commerce and distribution. It will bring a number of new customers into the business and allow it to better support existing customers with their expanding supply chain requirements across Europe in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In addition, Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern European approximately 40-person team working in the region will join GLP’s European team, Gazeley, upon completion of the transaction and will support the Company’s growth across Europe. The acquisition of the portfolio follows a broader European expansion since GLP entered the market at the end of 2017. In the past year, it has opened offices in both Spain and Italy following of a number of development opportunities. Nick Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Gazeley, said: “This deal is a very exciting part of our European growth strategy. The scale and geographic footprint of the portfolio is highly complementary to our existing business and offers us compelling opportunities for growth in a number of important European markets. We are confident that the addition of this portfolio will support us in delivering further value to investors and our customers. We very much look forward to welcoming the team, its customers and partners to Gazeley in the coming months.” Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to GLP, with Greenberg Traurig and Kinstellar providing local legal advice. Cushman & Wakefield served as advisors to GLP and Goldman Sachs and Citi have committed to finance the acquisition.
More than 10 million sq ft of warehouse space was under offer at the beginning of 2020 – a 233% increase since end of 2018, according to CBRE. In its latest trading update investor developer Tritax Symmetry chief executive, fund management, Colin Godfrey, said such figures looked promising for developers and investors in the logistics property sector. “Occupier take-up looks promising for 2020 with over 10 million sq ft of lettings reported to be under offer and carried over from 2019,” said Godfrey. “Speculative supply has slightly decreased from 2018, but importantly reduced by circa 50% for buildings over 500,000 sq ft, where demand continues to outstrip supply. Attractive levels of rental growth are therefore expected to continue. “The market for very large Big Box logistics assets continues to display strong fundamentals for 2020 and the longer term. Structural tailwinds are supportive as occupiers upscale the size of their logistics assets to further increase efficiency, reduce costs and rationalise their supply chains, in the face of the rapid transition to omni-channel purchasing by consumers.” Big box availability decreases However, according to CBRE, the UK’s Big Box logistics availability slightly decreased through 2019 to just over 27 million sq ft. Take up in 2019 topped 25 million sq ft means that on last years’ take up figures there is approximately just over one years’ supply going forward. There were 92 deals were signed throughout 2019. Of that 43.4% of the space taken related to units between 100,000 and 300,000 sq ft, resulting in an average deal size of 275,858 sq ft. 3PLs providers took the most space during 2019 (accounting for 22.7% of take- up), with online retailers on second position (22.1%) and the motor industry completing the podium (18.3%). Spec shed development increases Meanwhile, over the course of 2019, available supply – including speculative space under construction – rose by 15% according to the latest research from JLL. Jon Sleeman, director of UK research at JLL, said: “We saw more speculative starts take place in 2019 and at the end of the year there was 5.1 million sq ft speculatively under construction. We expect to see further speculative development take place this year but overall, against a backdrop of good levels of demand in the market, we are not anticipating an increase in our national vacancy rate this year.” Quiet Q4 for warehouse property market Finally Gerald Eve’s latest Prime Logistics report states that the last quarter of the year was hit by ‘economic and political uncertainty in the UK’. Take up was 24% lower than Q3, with 10.5 million sq ft taken-up in Q4, the overall volume was 11% below the 5-year quarterly average but in line with the 10-year average. Overall take-up during 2019 totalled 47 million sq ft, which was 7% down on 2018, but comfortably above the 10-year annual average.
Brand new 437,000 sq ft warehouse/industrial unit took 8 months to build and was completed for Evans Property Group GMI Construction Group has today announced the completion and handover of a new 437,000 sq ft warehouse/industrial development for long standing customer Evans Property Group at the Fradley Park development in Lichfield. The unit which took 8 months to build features 407,000 sq ft of warehouse space together with 30,000 sq ft of CAT A office accommodation and is immediately available for occupation. The development is the latest major project to be completed by GMI on Fradley Park having previously completed a giant 800,000 sq ft regional distribution centre in a record breaking 28 weeks for leading supermarket retailer Tesco. Speaking about the development, GMI Divisional Managing Director Marc Banks said: “Fradley Park is a stand-out location for logistics and home to many leading, well known brands. In the last 12-18 months GMI have been constructing and developed in excess of 10 separate logistics/industrial development projects, and so this further serves to underpin our credentials in this important sector which continues to experience strong growth” Architects on the project were Kilmartin Plowman & Partners with JPG serving as structural engineers and Richard Boothroyd Associates the Employers Agent Set within 350 acres, Fradley Park offers a first-class location for warehousing distribution and manufacturing with opportunities for both existing buildings and build to suit developments from 50,000 sq ft to 230,000 sq ft. Fradley Park is at the heart of the country’s motorway network being 4.5 miles from T4 and T5 of M6 Toll Road. Located on the A38, it has excellent access to the M1, M42, M40, M6 and A50 and close to both Birmingham International and East Midlands airports.
Stephen George + Partners LLP (SGP) has overseen the completion of the third and final phase of St. Modwen Park Doncaster. Having masterplanned the whole 27-acre site, SGP successfully designed and delivered the last £7 million phase, comprising more than 108,000 sq ft of industrial space, in February 2020. Working with St. Modwen and Lindum Construction, SGP designed the three units of 34,464 sq ft, 21,614 sq ft and 53,072 sq ft to complete the 247,000 sq ft development, which was granted outline consent in March 2016. SGP designed and delivered the first two phases of the park in 2016 and in 2017, and the speculative units were quickly occupied by Bosch Automotive, DB Schenker and Thornhill Engineering. Steven Clegg, Principal Architectural Technologist at SGP, said: “The project provides accessible and adaptable space in a modern envelope that uses robust yet cost effective materials. The clean, crisp contemporary design appeals to a wide cross section of users and has been well received in the market.” Rob Richardson, Senior Development Manager at St. Modwen Industrial & Logistics, added: “We are delighted to have worked with SGP on this scheme and to have reached completion of the third and final phase. The new warehouses are testament to our ability to bring forward much-needed industrial and logistics development and we look forward to welcoming businesses to these new, high-quality units.” Built on an established 27-acre brownfield site off Wheatley Hall Road, one of the main arterial routes into the city, the business park offers versatile high bay warehouse and office space, with separate parking and yards and segregated access to each area.
Planning permission is now being sought for the second stage of Frontier Park, Blackburn, off the Whitebirk roundabout next to M65 junction six, with construction scheduled to start in March for completion by Christmas. Alex Kenwright, development manager for the project, has revealed three new tenants for its existing warehouse and industrial units and said that a further one is in the final legal stages of letting. This leaves just one small unit of 20,000 square feet left to fill out of the initial 400,000. The development by Blackburn’s Issa brothers aims to bring 2,000 jobs when completed in spring next year, earlier than scheduled. It includes one of the brothers’ Euro Garages service areas and a 150-bedroom Hampton by Hilton hotel with a conference and banqueting centre, construction of which is on track to end later this year. Cllr Miles Parkinson, leader of Hyndburn Council, said: “This is an important development for the whole of East Lancashire. It has come on by leaps and bounds and the jobs are now flowing in. Everything that was promised is being delivered.” The largest 185,000 sq ft warehouse has been taken by MDA, part of European Logistics giant The Stacci Group, to service their existing Walker Park, Blackburn, operation. The Modular Group has moved from smaller premises in Blackburn into a 30,000 sq ft unit to expand its business manufacturing and distributing garden and office sheds and cabins and structurally insulated panels for easy-build houses. An 80,000 sq ft warehouse has been let to Royal Sanders, a global supplier of soap and personal care products. Hyndburn supplier of dryers, ovens and coolers to industry, Tek-Dry Systems Limited, had previously taken 60,000 sq ft of space. Mr Kenwright said: “The last 12 months have been great. We have seen take-up of 95 per cent of available space bringing dozens of jobs initially with more to come. Our aim is to have the park fully built and let by spring 2021.” Cllr Phil Riley, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s regeneration boss, said: “The progress of this development is great for East Lancashire as a whole. It sends put a message this is area to invest in.” The new phase of development, totalling almost 300,000 sq ft has been designed to provide units of between 50,000 and 150,000 sq ft along with a phase of smaller starter units between 3,000 and 5,000 sq ft. Caroline James of estate agents Trevor Dawson said: “Frontier Park is almost fully let and is now established as a prime location for manufacturing and logistics.”
Whether it’s the food takeaway industry utilising mobile apps or sports events using video assisted refereeing, technological advances are helping our world progress and become better. With this in mind, it’s clear that technology is evolving across every business, allowing companies to become more productive and efficient. Computer systems, such as warehouse management systemsand CRM’s have the possibility to increase productivity of staff, while analytics allow you to judge what updates are needed and when. What printing techniques are there available? In any manufacturing company, human error can be extremely costly. That’s where 3D printing can come into play. While it’s still early days for the technology, digital printinghas the potential to have a massive impact on practicality. It’s expected that this invention will transform nearly every industry as it changes how manufacturers will do business and will impact material costs, the traditional assembly line and product pricing strategies. They are particularly handy as automated printers, like those used by Voodoo Manufacturing, don’t need to be manned anymore and can continue working 24 hours a day. The use of robotics isn’t aimed at replacing humans, but more so making employees’ jobs easier. Drones Drones can impact a company massively, saving almost 12 hours on each inspection and reducing the time it takes to check the equipment from 12 hours to 12 minutes. Not only can drones provide a quick and thorough inspection, but they eliminate the health and safety risk of someone needing to scale up to 150 feet to look at gantries. They have started to use drones to help perform risky inspections on the factory’s equipment in it’s Dagenham engine plant. The company is benefitting massively, Drones are also particularly good at providing the company with video and still footage that can be stored to allow the plant to compare its findings over a period of time to monitor any changes or patterns that are noticeable. This has become an indispensable tool for the factory, with the drones greatly improving productivity and efficiency. What does the future of embedded metrology bring? The process of quality control can traditionally be a very time-consuming and expensive project. There would be randomly selected machine-made parts that would be individually tested, and if they passed the test, the batch it came from would be validated. This process can’t be too reliable, as faulty parts may well be produced in a batch and slip through after the checks. That’s why the ever-improving embedded metrology will continue to help manufacturers produce a better product. This quick and convenient solution is a lot more accurate and requires little human interference. Bodysuits It was announced in 2017 that line workers in the plant would pilot exoskeleton suits — wearable technology that can help support a worker’s arms while they undergo tasks above their heads. Ford’s Michigan plant is also using innovative technological developments to help its workforce. These suits can also be adjusted to support different weights, depending on the wearer’s needs. While such suits were more likely to appear on the big screen in movies such as Iron Manjust a few years ago, the creation is having positive feedback from its users in the real life world. In the future, it’s anticipated that this human aspect can be removed completely, with technology helping to provide a fully integrated and fully automated form of quality control. While some of the public are concerned that jobs will be lost as it keeps progressing, it can only be a good thing for manufacturing companies as it continues to help improve productivity and efficiency. It will be interesting to see what we welcome to factories next! Technology is continuing to amaze us in all walks of life. The automotive industry is no different, either, taking advantage of new inventions. It’s not only our cars that are benefitting from technological advances, though — the manufacturing industry is, too. Lookers, Ford Servicingspecialists, are an example of this too! Sources https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/ford-is-using-drones-to-keep-an-eye-on-its-factories.html www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/15921/exoskeletons-unveiled-at-ford-manufacturing-plant https://matrixrecruitment.ie/5-innovative-technologies-solve-manufacturing-problems-2018/ https://www.insight.com/en_US/learn/content/2017/04112017-3-manufacturing-technology-trends-shaping-factories-of-the-future.html
J Tomlinson has handed over a new £5.2m industrial park in Market Harborough, which is set to create more than 200 jobs. Airfield Business Park – developed by Leicestershire County Council – will boost business and employment opportunities in the town and the local economy. A range of high-spec industrial units ranging from 1,570 to 33,360 sq. ft (145 to 3,099 sq. m.) has been built. Darroch Baker, construction managing director at J Tomlinson, said: “It has been a pleasure to be involved in the creation of this exciting new business park in partnership with Leicestershire County Council. “It is great to see the high level of interest in these high-spec, energy efficient units, and we hope this becomes a thriving business hub in which the tenants enjoy their new premises.” The first business to sign up and move into one of the units is Fasten-It Ltd, which supplies products for the UPVC roofline, door and window fitting industry. Byron Rhodes, deputy county council leader, said: “It is great to see this venture complete and ready for new and existing businesses. Supporting businesses is important; it helps boost our local economy and creates jobs. Investing in property also enables us to generate extra income which we can then plough back into frontline services.” The site also features 692 solar panels, which are part of the council’s ongoing commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030. Several other companies have already shown an interest in renting the units, with six of the 12 units reserved by prospective tenants. J Tomlinson, based at Beeston near Nottingham, operates primarily across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire. For more information visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk
Industrial asset manager Chancerygate has sold more than half of the available units at its £33m Novus business park in Knutsford, after selling a further four units to two companies. Industrial valve manufacturer Oliver Valves acquired three units totalling 17,300 sq ft at the under-construction business park, increasing the company’s presence at the Parkgate Industrial Estate, which lies to the east of the Novus development. Oliver Valves’ chairman, Michael Oliver, said: “We have been present on Parkgate Industrial Estate for more than 40 years and Novus provided the perfect opportunity for us to buy a Grade A industrial facility and ensure our long-term growth plans were catered for.” Meanwhile, cosmetics distributor Wellness Trading acquired a single unit measuring 6,000 sq ft. The values of the deals were not disclosed. Novus is a 252,000 sq ft industrial and warehouse development across 16-acres of the established Parkgate Industrial Estate, and is currently Chancerygate’s largest scheme in the north of England. Work to develop the first phase of the scheme is underway after Caddick Construction was awarded a £10.7m contract last September, and is expected to complete in September 2020. This week’s deals mark the first tranche of speculative sales at the development and mean 55% of the nine available units have been acquired. A further four units, ranging from 14,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft, remain available. Chancerygate development manager Chris Brown, said: “Securing occupiers for more than half of our flagship North West development only two months into the build is an excellent achievement. “The swift take-up of these units is testament to the pent-up demand in Knutsford from owner-occupiers for high-quality industrial and warehouse space, and the limited options available to businesses for many years now. We look forward to continued discussions with potential occupiers ahead of completion in September 2020.” Phase two of the project will comprise 12 units ranging between 3,500 and 70,000 sq ft in size with work expected to begin in the summer. Last March, car dealer Sytner secured a long-term lease on a 36,361 sq ft unit on the development.