B&M Retail secures Northwest mega shed

By Liza Helps Property Editor Logistics Matters

THE PROPERTY is located on the Link Logistics Park within the Liverpool City Region Freeport Zone and is the second big deal Logistics Matters has reported on in that area this week following news that Uniserve is set to build a 950,000 ft2 distribution centre there which was reported on Tuesday.

Link 674, is a speculatively built cross dock facility, comprising 626,348 ft2 of warehouse space providing 96,048 wide aisle pallet or 130,464 narrow aisle pallet locations. It has 18m eaves, 80 dock  and eight level access doors, as well as parking for 160 HGVs and 502 cars. It has 31,352 ft2 of Grade A offices on the first and second floors as well as a further 16,564 ft2 of mezzanine space. There is  up to 5MvA of power available  as well as a PV array that could provide up to 28,258 kwh a year. The building was built by developer Firethorn as net zero carbon in construction and has a BREEAM Excellent and EPC A + rating. Cain International paid £550 million for seven  of Firethorn’s development assets in 2022 as its entry into the UK logistics market. As part of the transaction, it was agreed that Firethorn Trust would develop the remaining sites and act as leasing and asset manager across the portfolio on behalf of Cain.

B&M describes itself as a fast-growing discount retailer, currently operating from over 750 high street and out of town stores across the UK, with a team of over 38,000 employees. In its most recent report and accounts it set out plans to increase store openings to 1200 and admits that following the  acquisition of 51 former Wilko stores many of these are in areas new for B&M or are in areas where B&M is under-represented. It is opening 21 stores in the fourth quarter of 2024 and a further 15 – 20 in the first quarter of 2025.

B&M has declined to comment on the deal which is being widely touted. Experts predict that more information will be forthcoming in the company’s half year financial results in November.

Joint letting agents for the building are B8 Real Estate, Moriarty & Co and CBRE.