Warehouse scheme goes nuclear

By Liza Helps Property Editor Logistics Matters

IT HAS taken a lease across two completed units of 301,214 ft2 and 256,255 ft2 making up Phase 1 of the scheme and has pre-let two others of 500,000 ft2 and 25,335 ft2 along with 5.34 acres of open storage as it prepares for peak construction of the 3.2 gigawatt nuclear power station on the Suffolk Coast.

Sizewell C secured its Nuclear Site License earlier this year following its freehold purchase of the 80-acre site from EDF and development is expected to start imminently.

The deal at Orwell Logistics Park will mean the project can store and access key equipment local to the Sizewell C site, creating significant efficiencies during the construction period.

It will also be the new location for Sizewell C’s Freight Management Facility (FMF), which will ensure a controlled pattern of deliveries to Sizewell C, enabling reduced movements during peak or sensitive hours. Sizewell C had previously earmarked a site at Levington, to the south-east of Ipswich, for its FMF, but after local consultation and with the preferred location available, the facility will now be based at OLP.

Orwell Logistics Park, acquired by BGO with development partner, Equation Properties, in December 2020, is a new industrial/distribution development strategically located on the A14 between Ipswich and the Port of Felixstowe, one of the UK’s largest deepwater ports which accounts for almost 50% of all containerised trade in the country. The site spans a total of 60 acres with a total floor area of just under 1.1m ft2.

Letting agents for the scheme were M1 Agency, JLL and Penn Commerical. Gerald Eve advised Sizewell C.