Sheds market powers ahead, says agent
PROPERTY agency King Sturge is predicting that the buoyant industrial property market experienced in the region last year is set to continue in 2011.
The firm advised on 5.4m sq ft of industrial transactions last year, including the sale of the 500,000 sq ft The Hub building at Heywood Distribution Park to Fowler Welch Cooltrain, the 478,000 sq ft Galaxy at Knowsley Industrial Park and the leasehold disposal of Titan in Middlewich at 350,000 sq ft to Kuehne & Nagel/Fiat.
Nationally, the firm said that 14m sq for of new build “big box” space comprising buildings of more than 100,000 sq ft was taken up last year, compared with just 6.9m sq ft in 2009.
Other big deals in the region saw the freehold disposal of the Bridgewater Paper Co facility in Ellesmere Port by administrators of 900,000 sq ft on 50 acres, It was sold to Peel Ports. The freehold of the 40-acre D1 Oils site in Bromborough also changed hands.
David Brooks, King Sturge’s UK head of industrial & logistics, said that a key driver for the regional market last year was the emergence of opportunistic occupiers and investors who took advantage of heavily discounted prices and competitive rents.
“Our 2011 Property Predictions forecasts that this trend will continue across the UK.
“In the North West, our team expects to be active as strategic land buying activity by developers intensifies with the focus on ‘oven-ready’ sites which are immediately deliverable to meet demand as supply of new and modern ‘big box’ stock dwindles.
“We also believe that occupiers and investors will become increasingly alive to the obsolescence of certain types of larger secondary stock and may look to redevelop sites in prime locations to suit today’s market requirements.”
