IM Properties (IMP) is speculatively creating the country’s first industrial and logistics space that could effectively benefit from zero electricity bills in the launch of their first Electricity Cost Neutral (ECN) building.
IMP says it’s the first time anyone has combined photovoltaic panels with a cutting edge battery technology in the UK, and Hub69 – a new spec building in Birmingham – will be the first to use the combined technology and achieve an A+ energy performance certificate (EPC).
Construction of the 69,000 sq ft ECN building is underway at The Hub, a 90-acre business park in Witton, and completion is expected in October 2017.
The Hub is best known as the home of Birmingham’s new wholesale markets, and was acquired in Q1 2013, after Coleshill-based IMP identified it as a key strategic location for internet retail, distribution and manufacturing-led uses. Tenants include Iron Mountain, Timet and the Engineering Employers Federation.
Hub69 will use solar charged photovoltaic panels to supply electricity straight to the building for immediate use. The battery can be solar charged or charged from the grid when electricity is cheaper to use during more expensive periods in a process known as peak shaving.
Kevin Ashfield, IMP’s UK development director said: “We’re keen to lead the market on sustainability and innovative use of this technology, which we believe will become commonplace in the industrial and logistics sector in the years to come.
“We are very excited about turning theory into reality by combining this technology. There is a general trend of increasing utility costs, which affects the bottom line of occupiers. Our first ECN building provides a carbon positive facility which will have long term cost savings for the occupier.”
IMP is one of the largest privately owned property groups in the UK, with an investment and development portfolio of c£900 million across the UK, Europe and the US.
