Liberty Property Trust has acquired a pre-let industrial unit at the £120 million Worcester Six business park as it begins an ambitious investment and development drive.
The real estate company has acquired the 140,000 sq ft building where Kimal Plc, a market leader in developing and manufacturing a range of innovative products and procedural solutions for the healthcare sector, has agreed to locate its new headquarters.
Unit 10A is the third industrial building in Liberty’s Worcester Six portfolio. It has already completed Liberty 45 and Liberty 163, a 45,000 sq ft unit and 163,000 sq ft unit respectively, which were built as a joint venture with Stoford Developments as part of the first phase.
Jane Harrison, Director, at Liberty Property Trust, said the acquisition forms part of a drive that will see the company seek to add a further half a million sq ft of industrial and warehouse space to its portfolio over the next two years.
“We know the location very well, thanks to the speculative developments we have recently completed with our joint venture partners Stoford Developments at Worcester Six,” she said.
“When the opportunity arose to buy the building we knew it would be the right fit for our growing portfolio. This asset, alongside our development starts in Northampton, Widnes and Lichfield, gives Liberty a strong presence in the industrial and logistics market.”
Kimal Plc recently announced it has agreed to locate its new headquarters at Worcester Six, which is located off junction six of the M5, because it is outgrowing its existing accommodation at Droitwich and Redditch. Employees at these two centres will be relocated to the new HQ. The company will continue to operate at sites in Bromsgrove and Uxbridge.
It has agreed a 15-year lease for the £13 million unit and will invest more than £3 million in an initial fit out phase, with a further £3 million investment in facilities overtime. In parallel, it has plans to create up to an additional 100 jobs over a period of time due to the increased capacity the new site offers.
Gerard Ludlow, director at Stoford, said: “When the opportunity arose to acquire Unit 10A, Liberty Property Trust was quick to take advantage of the sale and we are very pleased that a trusted company with whom we work has decided to take it on. It’s good news for us and Liberty, as well as for Kimal, which will have an excellent landlord.”
Alan Press, chief executive officer at Kimal, said: “We are excited about the impending move to Worcester Six, which reinforces our commitment to the West Midlands and Worcestershire specifically whilst also helping to facilitate our growth plans for Kimal both domestically and internationally.”
Once fully developed, Worcester Six will provide 1.5 million sq ft of accommodation and create up to 5,000 jobs.