Just six months of Grade A ‘big shed’ supply across North West

Gorsey Point, Widnes

The North West currently has just half a year’s supply of Grade A ‘big sheds’ supply, according to the latest stats from property group Savills.

Its Big Sheds Briefing says demand is set to outstrip supply, with low levels of good quality space, with the three year average annual take-up of 6.61 million sq ft – this equates to just 0.51 years’ worth of supply.

The report says there is low levels of good quality supply, with data showing that only 17% of the available space is Grade A, with 51% being Grade B and 32% Grade C, meaning we are continuing to see occupiers gravitate to better quality space, due to efficiencies, ESG and staff retention.

Take up was only marginally down on the previous year, in spite of major headwinds, with Savills reporting that take-up was 68% above long term average with the average deal size at 294,191 sq ft.

Grocery retailers accounted for 27% of take-up in 2022, alongside online retailers and automotive manufacturers.

One of the region’s success stories has been the CDP/Mirastar development at Gorsey Point in in Widnes, which saw more than 650,000 sq ft let prior to practical completion.

There are currently seven units being speculatively developed, totalling 2.23 million sq ft, with one more than 500,000 sq ft, showing that supply is coming, but not at a fast enough rate.

One million sq ft of the 2.23 million sq ft has already been let prior to completion.

Jonathan Atherton, industrial and logistics director at Savills Manchester, said: “Take up in the North West reached 7.06 million sq ft in 2022 through 24 transactions. We’re continuing to track enquiries from multiple parties on good quality prime stock, with 50% of the development pipeline already under offer and due to exchange in the first quarter of this year.

“This increased competition has caused net effective rents to increase and with the lack of the new supply coming forward we fully expect this trend to continue.”

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