Harworth Group plc, a leading regenerator of land and property for development and investment, will be speculatively developing a new 50,800 sq. ft industrial unit on its last remaining land plot at Logistics North in Bolton which is expected will be ready for occupation by Spring 2021.
The unit, which will be built by Caddick Construction on Harworth’s behalf, will be suitable for a range of manufacturing or distribution uses. 11% of its space will comprise a Category A fit out first floor office, alongside 45,200 sq. ft of warehouse space. It will be built to Harworth’s high quality specification, with a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating, six Electric Vehicle charging points and generous yard and car park space. The unit will be marketed by retained agents B8 Real Estate and JLL for either a long-term letting or for sale, with a range of bespoke fit-out solutions available.
The build out is being part-funded by a £3 million Evergreen loan from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The North West Evergreen Fund is managed by CBRE’s Investment Advisory team, part of CBRE Capital Advisors. The Fund has been the catalyst for the delivery of over £500 million of employment infrastructure over the last five years and is now in its third investment phase. It is focused on opportunities which meet employment, regeneration, carbon saving and floor space output targets.
Harworth has previously used Evergreen loans to fund the early infrastructure and remediation works at Logistics North, in addition to funding the construction of Units C4 and C5 in 2017 that provided an additional 47,500 sq. ft of new industrial space.
Harworth received outline planning consent for Logistics North at the end of December 2013. Nearly 6,000 people are now employed on the site by a range of different occupiers based there including Amazon, Aldi, Whistl, MBDA, Greene King, Costa and Komatsu. Once complete, the development will deliver over 7,000 jobs and add around £300 million in Gross Value Added to the Greater Manchester economy per annum.
Only one building on-site remains available for immediate occupation – Unit F2/G, a 149,140 sq. ft unit constructed by Harworth in Joint Venture with Lancashire Pension Fund as part of Phase 2 of its ‘Multiply Logistics North’ (‘Multiply’) development. A speculative build or design and build opportunity is also available on Phase 3 of Multiply for a 131,000 sq ft industrial unit. B8 Real Estate, JLL and Knight Frank are retained agents for Multiply.
“With good quality available industrial space becoming increasingly scarce across Greater Manchester, we think this is the perfect time to be bringing speculative development to the market. COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of e-tailing and we continue to see strong appetite for strategically located space in the market. Our unit offers flexibility to a range of occupiers whilst being within two hours of 60% of the UK’s business and 20 million consumers.”
Steven Knowles, Regional Director – North West, Harworth Group plc
“The Evergreen fund is delighted to work with Harworth again given the Company’s previous success in using and quickly repaying loans to accelerate the build out of infrastructure and new space. Logistics North has become an exemplar development for the North West and we look forward to being part of its future success.”
Will Church, Senior Director of Regeneration Funds, CBRE