Two developers join forces for £35m logistics project
TWO Birmingham developers have been appointed to build a new £35m supermarket distribution centre for the Co-operative Group – the first formal joint venture between the firms.
Following a year of negotiations, a 50/50 JV deal has been signed by Stoford and Gallan Group to deliver the project in the Avonmouth area of Bristol.
And in an added element of team unity, the project will be led by Stoford director Dan Gallagher and his sister Gallan Group director Karen Wilson, although this is not the first time the siblings have worked together.
The logistics centre will eventually employ around 1,000 people and serve over 400 of the company’s food stores in Bristol, South Wales and the South West.
It forms part of the Manchester-based Co-op’s plans to re-organise its UK logistics operations after it acquired Somerfield supermarkets last year.
Stoford and Gallan were selected from a shortlist of six national developers to create the 435,780 sq ft facility on a 33-acre section of a 90-acre site currently used by Honda for car storage.
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The remaining 57 acres will remain the property of seller Crown Estates after Honda decided that portion of the site next to the M5 was surplus to its requirements.
A planning application is due to be submitted before the end of the year with the distribution hub expected to be operational by early 2012.
This is Stoford’s second major scheme in Bristol this year following a deal for a 60,000sq ft office development for insurance firm Simply Health.
Mr Gallagher said: “We have worked closely with the occupier to secure a first-class site in the established environment which already has a string of key occupiers including John Lewis, Scottish and Newcastle, Expeditors and Avon and Somerset Police.”
He added: “There will be no sibling rivalry at all. We worked on the project together from the outset.”
The Co-op Group was represented by Thomas Round, London. Nigel Lawrence Partnership acted for Honda Motor Group and Driver Jonas Deloitte advised the current owner Crown Estate.
