Prologis, the leading global owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, has announced that Network Rail is to buy the freehold of a completed 300,000 square foot turnkey distribuion centre at Prologis Park Ryton in the West Midlands. At the same time, in a transaction that marks Prologis’ first land acquisition in the West Midlands for five years, the company has secured an adjacent 33 acre site from Ryton Properties Ltd, extending Prologis Park Ryton to a total of 98 acres.
Network Rail will be the first occupier at Prologis Park Ryton with a new facility that could bring around 120 jobs to the area. The building will be designed and constructed to achieve BREEAM 2011 ‘very good’ accreditation and the best possible EPC rating for its size. Construction will start in the autumn with completion due in March 2013.
“We are delighted to have secured this new distribution centre at Ryton,” said Stephen Dady, materials business manager at Network Rail. “Prologis was able to offer us a facility that met the requirements of our parts logistics operations and because planning permission was already in place, the building will be ready to meet our timetable.”
With an extensive frontage to the A45, Prologis Park Ryton is close to the M40, M6, M69 and M1 motorways as well as to Coventry Airport. Infrastructure work is already underway and this will continue in parallel with the vertical build programme, opening up the site for further buildings in a range of sizes.
“Despite the challenging economic conditions, we are investing prudently in our land bank so that we can offer customers the best opportunities in the UK market,” said Andrew Griffiths, managing director of Prologis UK. “With the supply of standing stock in such short supply, we are aware of the importance of having strategic and deliverable land opportunities available to offer customers on a build-to-suit basis. The acqusition of the extension land allows us to offer a broader range of development opportunities to our customers within a high quality business park environment.”
Prologis Park Ryton is also one of the locations which Prologis is offering its recently launched five year build-to-suit initiative. The offer includes fit-out and because it is available on prime Prologis sites that already have detailed planning consent, new facilities can be fully operational within 10 months.
Jones Lang LaSalle, Gerald Eve and North Rae Sanders acted for Prologis.
As of June 30, 2012, Prologis had approximately 18 million square feet completed and under development in the UK, as well as 1,075 acres of land available for future development.