Fiera Real Estate (FRE UK) and Cubex have announced the acquisition of a 12-acre greenfield site adjacent to the M5 near Highbridge with a GDV of £25m. The business plan is to obtain planning permission and speculatively build out a Grade A 160,000 sq.ft logistics unit.
The site was purchased through the Fiera Real Estate Opportunity Fund V UK (“FREOF V UK”), the latest fund in FRE UK’s programmatic venture series with CBRE Investment Management. This is the 11th acquisition for the Fund which has over £100m of equity committed.
The site is situated south of Bristol in a highly accessible, strategic location, overlooking the M5 at Junction 22 and adjacent to the A38, in an established logistics location. Nearby occupiers include Yeo Valley, Off-Site Solutions and Briarwood, with a high level of surrounding amenity, it provides a great location from which to service the South West region and beyond via the M5/M4 corridors.
As with all Cubex schemes, ESG criteria has been incorporated into all stages of the design. The scheme is targeting BREEAM Excellent and EPC A rating and will also include electric car charging points and roof lights to the warehouse space. Energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling will be installed to encourage reduced energy consumption above Part L Regulations.
This deal represents the firm’s shift towards the logistics market, a move that highlights the continued strength of the investment market for prime industrial locations. Urban logistics remains a key investment strategy for the Fiera Real Estate Opportunity Fund V, and Cubex, backed by FRE UK has significant funding for more speculative industrial and logistics developments in major urban locations across the UK.
Joe Downey, Director at Cubex commented “Cubex is a fantastic business with an incredible track record of acquiring and delivering highly sustainable best in class real estate over the last 17 years. I’m am extremely excited about what the future holds as we continue to deliver our live developments as well as growing our development pipeline, and our team over the coming years. The recent acquisition of Highbridge to deliver 160k sq ft of speculative logistics sets the tone for our future growth. We have a number of similar deals in legals and are actively targeting further opportunities.”
Chris Button, Fund Manager at FRE UK, commented “We are delighted to acquire this strategic south west logistics site with Cubex – in a superb location, it is able to service the population of the M5 corridor with ease and in a highly sustainable way – it ticks all the boxes”.
Peter Walford, Managing Director of Cubex, commented “This deal marks a new chapter in the Cubex evolution demonstrating our abilities to source and acquire prime development opportunities in targeted market sectors with our in-house funds. As with all our projects, we shall be focussing on delivering a top quality, sustainable building that meets the needs of both occupiers and investors in this high-profile location.”
Russell Property Consultants and JLL are to be retained by Cubex to let the premises.
