Developer Robert Hitchins has won a prestigious award for its groundbreaking development at Central Park, Bridgend for parcel giant Evri.
The 15-year FRI lease for the 82,000 sq ft unit has been recognised as the most impactful in Wales for 2024 in the CoStar Impact Awards, judged by a panel of industry experts.
Evri moved into the purpose-built unit on the Robert Hitchins-owned industrial estate near J35 of the M4 in 2024.
The company has tripled in size in the last five years to become the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery company, delivering more than 730 million parcels per year with a team of more than 20,000 couriers and close to 17,000 ParcelShops and Lockers.
In the first 24 hours at its new base in Bridgend the team processed 128,000 parcels.
John Jones, Senior Asset and Development Manager at Robert Hitchins, was delighted to receive the accolade from CoStar which seeks to recognise significant contributions to the commercial property industry.
“For several decades, Robert Hitchins has been committed to delivering employment-generating developments in Bridgend and South Wales and we are proud that our success and our continued investment in best-in-class commercial premises has been recognised by some of the best in the industry,” he said.
Judges for the CoStar Lease of the Year Award praised the Evri deal as a catalyst for vibrancy and economic activity which represents significant growth and sets new milestones.
CoStar judge Huw Thomas, director at Huw Thomas Commercial Property Consultancy, said: “The costs of providing a new institutional building of the size and specification required will have presented significant challenges to the developer in terms of viability and industrial yields.”
Fellow-judge John James, director at Fletcher Morgan, added: “This letting has resulted in job creation, will help to address a lack of Grade A stock of this nature in South Wales. It has set new rental levels and demonstrated that a development of this nature can be successful west of the M4 Brynglas tunnels.”
Robert Hitchins, based in Gloucestershire, has developed Central Park over several phases since it acquired the former Kimball Electronics plant in 2006. A scheme of 16 trade counter units amounting to 51,000 sq ft was developed in 2008, followed by a 13,500 sq ft trade counter scheme in 2012 and a 40,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility for PCI Pharma Services in 2017.
The Evri warehouse, along with a new built-to-suit 20,000 sq ft unit for MKM Building Supplies, completes the Robert Hitchins’ development of the Bridgend Industrial Estate.
Mr Jones estimated that there are currently more than 500 jobs associated with Central Park and said its continued development is providing a much-needed boost for the region and the wider economy.
“We are proud to be investing for the long term in Bridgend by self-funding the development of high-quality buildings which has become increasingly rare in the commercial property market due to rising build costs and other factors,” he said.
He thanked Neil Francis from Knight Frank in Cardiff who acted as agent, and Ewan Kilgour from Davies & Partners in Bristol who handled the legal affairs.