Multi storey urban shed plans for Southwark

By Liza Helps Property Editor, Logistics Matters

LISTED PROPERTY company British Land has secured a resolution to grant planning for the four storey 135,205 ft2 facility at 25 Mandela Way, Southwark, which sits close to the junction of New Kent Road, Old Kent Road, and Tower Bridge Road

The 1.8 acre former Southwark Council car pound will be redeveloped to feature four floors of flexible, high-quality, sustainable logistics space. The ground floor logistics space provides access for a variety of distribution vehicles including HGVs and cargo bikes, while upper floors will be served by lifts. The development is predicted to provide up to 315 new jobs. 

The scheme will target a BREEAM Excellent rating and implement low-carbon materials, and a circular economy strategy to lower embodied and operational carbon emissions.

British Land bought the site from the council for £22 million in 2022.

This is the latest in British Land’s 2.9m ft2 urban warehouse pipeline. So far British Land’s pipeline of urban logistics projects in Greater London includes an additional project adjacent to the Old Kent Road on Verney Road, the Finsbury Square Car Park and The Box at Paddington Central, which received planning consent earlier this year.

Additionally, British Land received approval in July to deliver 455,000 ft2 of multi-level logistics space at Heritage House, Enfield, located near Junction 25 of the M25 motorway.

Talking about the company’s London Urban Logistics approach in its Annual Report published earlier this year British land CEO Simon Carter, explained: “There is an acute shortage of logistics space within London's M25. Demand is strong due to the long term growth of e-commerce combined with rising consumer expectations for priority delivery, and as a result vacancy in Greater London is 2.3% and 0.4% in Zone 1. This acute supply-demand imbalance underpins the attractiveness of this market segment.

“We have a development led approach and our pipeline has a gross development value of £1.3bn. Our strategy is to deliver best in class, environmentally sustainable multistorey and Zone 1 last mile urban logistics schemes that will appeal to a range of occupiers. Last mile logistics solutions that allow the use of e-bikes for delivery to the end customer have up to 90% lower carbon emissions, are 1.6x faster than vans in traffic and support the net zero objectives of local authorities.”

British Land head of logistics Mike Best said: “We continue to explore new opportunities to leverage our longstanding investment and development expertise to source and execute acquisitions which unlock opportunities to densify London’s logistics supply.”