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PAUSING TO take stock of a year of deals and developments in the UK Logistics property market is always edifying and while there is no particular criteria for the Logistics Matters Deal/Development of the Year - as there are no awards or prizes either – all of the following deals and developments can be seen as an exemplar. 

It is by no means a comprehensive list… feel free to add your own; can be any size, can be any type of deal from a straight forward lease, sub-lease, pre-let, or renegotiation of an existing lease. It can be a speculative development, a refurbishment or indeed a build-to-suit – the only rule we put in place is this –  tell us why you think it should be a winner [see BOX]. 

1: Yusen Logistics pre-let/build-to-suit at SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton

Tenant: Yusen Logistics

Developer: SEGRO

Letting Agents: CBRE, Colliers and Cushman & Wakefield

Size: 1.59 million ft2 (incl mezzanines)

Logistics Matters broke the story in February 2024 through a planning application which identified the 3PL as the specific occupier for the site.

But it was not until November when Logistics Matters Editor Simon Duddy spoke exclusively with Ben Bird, business development and solutions design director, and Milena Chambers, head of warehousing and automation solution design, both of Yusen Logistics, that the significance of this forward thinking strategic deal was revealed.

This highly bespoke, high-tech cross-docked sustainable distribution centre was designed, planned and negotiated, with no customers lined up.

A highly risky move in a world where the usual practice is for 3PLs to get the customer’s buy in and then build the facility.

Right from the beginning the facility, Yusen’s largest globally, has been designed to propel the company into the future anticipating customers needs from the get go; targeting the highest levels of sustainability with BREEAM Outstanding and EPC A+ ratings with the warehouse net zero from day one enabling Yusen to reduce its own carbon output as well as supporting  its customer to reduce theirs. Yusen is looking to be net carbon neutral by 2050 but anticipates that in the UK this could be brought forward to 2035 – 2040 with this facility.

In the interview with Simon, Ben said: “One of the benefits of the design and build process is that we’ve been able to spec the roof for around 600,000 sq ft of solar panels. We will be able to generate more energy from the roof array than the grid can give us. The grid can take a surplus of 1MVA but we can generate 4.9MVA, so we are then having to look at the battery element. This will be useful, particularly if we move to an EV fleet in the future for local deliveries.”

Aside from the sustainability features, the shared user facility will be highly automated within the mezzanine levels to help with productivity and will have a total capacity of 240,000 pallet locations. It will serve both B2B and B2C operations, featuring two distinct chambers for pharmaceutical and ambient activities.

Automation is one of the core strategies for the company going forward. In its annual report, it said: “We are actively pursuing the development of warehouse automation to enhance efficiency and capacity in our warehouse solutions for existing and future customers.”

Yusen spent years looking for a suitable site and intends to consolidate  a number of existing facilities and grow the business.

It is not surprising that it selected SLP Northampton; the five million ft2 scheme incorporates a 35-acre rail freight interchange which will enable Yusen to provide its customers with rail freight distribution solutions and support them in reducing their carbon emissions. The company noted in its most recent annual report for the year ending April 2023.: “UK Rail services are seen as a crucial element in our journey [to net zero] and that of our customers toward carbon neutrality in the coming years.”

The 1.59 million will comprise a warehouse of 1.144 million ft2 with 333,251 ft2 mezzanine as well as a three storey office totalling 35,810 ft2 and two hub offices of 5,190 ft2 and 8,000 ft2.

The property will have 85 dock and 10 level access doors with a further 48 dock levellers accounted for future use on the opposite side of the building - effectively making the facility cross dock. There will be yards of 55m and 35m on either side of the building with provision for 258 HGV spaces as well as 924 car parking spaces (185 EV).

It was one of the single largest build-to-suit deals of the year being described as a ‘real traditional deal’.

Colliers head of industrial and logistics Len Rosso describes the deal as ‘stand out’. Adding: “this Build-to-suit typifies what we are talking about – global occupiers planning for the future with increased efficiencies powered by highly sustainable state-of-the-art facilities. Occupiers who are willing to pay market rent for the product they need.”

2: Nike pre-let/build-to-suit Magna Park Corby

Tenant: Nike

Developer: GLP

Strategic Funding Partner: Legal & General

Letting Agents: Savills and M1 Agency

Size: 1.3 million ft2 

Having spent two years searching for a suitable UK facility in the Midlands Global sportswear conglomerate Nike secured a 20 year lease at GLP’s Magna Park Corby scheme in the East Midlands in May 2024, the forward funding of which by Legal & General represented the largest logistics facility investment deal to have completed in the UK during 2024.

Nike’s ‘Move to Zero’ commitment where it intends to reduce carbon footprint by 63% by 2030 from levels in 2019 and reach net zero by 2050, meant that in its search for a UK NDC, the building had to actively help the global brand reach its environmental goals.

It refused to countenance any facility that would not score a BREEAM Outstanding rating. Less than 1% of UK’s newly built non-domestic buildings achieve this score. 

The 35-acre campus style facility incorporating Nike UK headquarters in 90,000 ft2 of offices, will not only be highly sustainable but typifies the type of multi use hub of the future that will not only be used as a head office and distribution centre but also as a place for staff and their families and wider community to work, shop, eat and play.

It was no accident that Nike selected the site at GLP’s Magna Park Corby with its 6km plus of wooded walkways, cycle routes and landscaped open spaces. Nike UK’s 43 acre campus will incorporate staff cafeteria, a football pitch, tennis courts, outdoor terraces, running tracks, and open-air gyms with every aspect of the facility crafted with the goal of promoting a healthy work-life balance. And, of course, it will be built to target the highest ESG credentials looking to secure BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and an EPC A+ rating with Net Zero Carbon in Construction.

At the ground breaking ceremony Nike’s European operations and logistics vice president Eb Mukhtar MBE told the local press: "We’re not building a warehouse. This is going to be different. This will not be a steel box. The team here are going to create something that’s uniquely Nike, uniquely UK, uniquely Corby.”

The facility is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2027.

Savills’ head of EMEA industrial and  logistics research Kevin Mofid says the deal is something to be celebrated not least due to its size but its ambition and Nike is also a new entrant to UK market showing remarkable confidence by taking over 1 million ft2 in what is in effect a ‘new’ market. “It simply is a great deal.”

3: B&M Retail lease of Link 674 at Ellesmere Port

Tenant: B&M Retail

Developer: Firethorn

Owner: Cain International

Letting Agents: B8 Real Estate, Moriarty & Co and CBRE

Legal Advisor: Simmons & Simmons

Occupier representative: Savills 

Occupier legal advisor: Gordons LLP

Size: 674,264 ft2 (incl mezzanines)

Discount retailer B&M took a ten year lease on Cain International’s 674,674 ft2 speculatively built cross dock warehouse at Ellesmere Port in the Northwest in October  – the largest single deal for a speculative warehouse in the UK during 2024.

The property located on the Link Logistics Park sits within the Liverpool City Region Freeport Zone described as a ‘non-prime location’, however its Freeport status means qualifying occupiers can, subject to status, benefit from tax incentives up to £15 million including 100% business rate relief for five years, enhanced capital allowances, leasehold stamp duty tax reliefs and three years employers’ national insurance relief. Liverpool City Region Freeport was one of the initial eight Freeport Zones.

In its latest results B&M saw a total sales growth of 3.7% in the first six months of 2024 and reported that it plans to increase store openings from 750 to 1200 following the acquisition of 51 former Wilko stores in 2024. 

B&M chief executive Alex Russo said: “To futureproof this volume growth, I am pleased to announce that [in 2025] we will open a new imports centre in Ellesmere Port. This is the right productivity step to support both our short and long-term growth plans, including our target of not less than 1,200 B&M UK stores.”

The facility, which boasts 626,348 ft2 of warehouse space providing 96,048 wide aisle pallet or 130,464 narrow aisle pallet locations, will support B&M’s expansion plans which includes the opening of a further 20 stores in the first quarter of 2025 and facilitate inbound container flow which B&M reported had risen 40% since 2019 optimising the capacity of its five existing B&M UK distribution centres.

The building was built as net zero carbon in construction and has a BREEAM Excellent and EPC A+ rating. There is up to 5MvA of power available as well as a PV array that could provide up to 28,258 kwh a year. 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. 

Commenting on the deal and  the risk that Cain International took to secure the Firethorn portfolio for £550 million that included the then still under construction Link 674 building Jon Strang head of investments says: “Proof of the piece is to not necessarily make a bet on an obvious market. You don’t have to build in the Golden Triangle - the market has evolved beyond that.”

4: Greggs pre-let at Tritax Big Box’s Symmetry Park Kettering

Tenant: Greggs

Developer: Tritax Big Box

Letting Agents: BNP, Cushman & Wakefield, and DTRE

Occupier representative: Wright Silverwood

Size: 311,551 ft2 (+ 100,000 ft2 expansion)

Popular family-owned high street baker Greggs secured land for a new state-of-the-art national distribution centre at Tritax Big Box’s 2.31 million ft2 Symmetry Park Kettering scheme in the East Midlands, in July 2024 to bolster its capacity to directly supply ambient and chilled products to its shops with an ambitious view to running 3,500 retail outlets in the longer term. It opened 160 new outlets in 2024 alone. As at 30 December 2023, the baker had 2,473 shops.

The new NDC which totals 311,551 ft2 will be built net zero carbon in construction targeting BREEAM Very Good and an EPC A rating. Subject to planning, Greggs expects the NDC to be operational in the first half of 2027. It expects the NDC to ‘deliver efficiencies through semi- automated storage and picking solutions’.

In addition the baker is redeveloping existing distribution centres in Birmingham and Amesbury to increase logistics capacity and officially announced a new 500,000 ft2 state-of-the-art frozen production and logistics facility at SEGRO’s Smartparc scheme in Derby in May 2024 which Logistics Matters reported is expected to open in late 2026 and create up to 600 jobs.

The new purpose-built facility at Smartparc will provide additional manufacturing capacity for products as well as logistics for frozen storage and fully automated robotic shop order picking and distribution solutions from Swisslog, one of the world’s leading logistics automation companies. The capital expenditure to install the equipment is be self funded as is the land acquisition at Kettering.

Tritax development director Tom Leeming says: “The fact that we had the vision to secure the site get planning permission and were already on site with servicing, meant that Greggs could do the deal without having to wait. Having oven ready sites is crucial for occupier choice.”

Collier’s Len Rosso notes: “Greggs is a big volume occupier and they needed to get out of older accommodation these deals represent strategic  planning to boost business growth. Good solid deals.”