Smaller units preferred for Speke

By Liza Helps, Property Editor Logistics Matters

DEVELOPER COMMERCIAL Development Projects is seeking to alter  plans  it has already secured for a single 83,800 ft2 warehouse on Stirling Road in Speke in the Northwest to make it more marketable.

The new proposals see two buildings instead of the single unit, one totalling some 25,500 ft2 and another circa 31,500 ft2 comprising a terrace of six 5,250 ft2 units on a 5-acre site. The buildings will target BREEAM Very Good.

The site is part of a wider 13-acre development, which has seen the construction of two other warehouses of 84,756 ft2 and 67,530 ft2 known as Air 84 and Air 66 now owned by Mirastar and currently being marketed by B8 Real Estate and Savills.

In its planning statement to Liverpool Council, the developer said: “CDP have already completed two units on the wider development site (Plots B and C) and this application for Plot A aims to achieve a development, which is potentially more attractive to the market than the approved single unit on Plot A.” 

Should the council prove amenable, the developer said: “We anticipate a start on site as soon as possible after planning permission is granted, which means that this vacant site can be put to immediate use from completion in 2024.”

The move comes as at a time when there is a growing realisation that small to midbox warehousing under 100,000 ft2 across the country is woefully undersupplied. A recent research report by Potter Space and Savills noted demand is being suppressed by an average of 38% cross England which is worth £480 million in lost GVA per year. To unlock this demand, 6.2 million ft2 of new space is needed per annum.