Henderson Park and Cole Waterhouse have appointed the McLaren Construction Group as main contractor to deliver the first phase of Konect 62, a major tri-modal logistics and industrial scheme in Yorkshire. The announcement follows the joint venture’s formal completion of the 136-acre site’s acquisition for £54m. It has also newly signed a development debt facility with BentallGreenOak enabling the initial phase to get underway.
Phase One will see the speculative development of 1.1m sq ft of state-of-the-art, energy efficient warehouse space across four units, all built to BREEAM Excellent sustainability standards. This will include ‘Big K’ a 735,000 sq ft unit, one of the largest ever delivered in the north of the UK, as well as three further units of 161,000, 151,000 and 55,000 sq ft, catering to a variety of potential occupiers.
Konect 62 holds full planning consent for 1.4m sq ft of prime logistics accommodation, however, plans are under review to enlarge the scheme to circa 1.8m sq ft, enabling it to better fulfil the strong occupier demand, with a further planning application for the additional area due to be submitted in the new year.
David Nuttall, Managing Director of Cole Waterhouse industrial and logistics, commented: “Appointing McClaren to deliver these sustainable and high-quality units so quickly after we acquired the land and completed the construction funding is a major step forward for Konect and a statement of intent from the partners involved. We plan to be on site within four weeks with completion from Q3 2023. The range of units we are developing will appeal to a diverse range of occupiers who will bring high quality jobs and investment to the area and cement Konect as a significant employment destination in anticipation of our future phases in the coming years.”
Commenting on the investment, Christophe Kuhbier, Managing Director at Henderson Park, said: “This strategically located site is optimally placed to deliver much needed capacity into the critically undersupplied Yorkshire industrial market, with local vacancy rates of 2.2%. We are confident that the sustainability and technical specifications of the scheme we are developing will appeal to the highest quality logistics operators as well as traditional industrial occupiers, who are increasingly energy conscious. We are excited to get the project underway and deliver what we believe will be an exemplary regeneration of a major brownfield site.”
Gary Cramp, Managing Director of McLaren Construction (Midlands and North), said: “We are delighted to have secured the project which represents a great investment for the Yorkshire region, including plans for one of the largest units ever to be delivered here. The scale and scope of the scheme will bring abundant investment and employment opportunities to the county’s industrial and logistics market, and we are looking forward to continuing relationships with Henderson Park, Cole Waterhouse and their stakeholders.”
Jim Blakemore, Global Head of Debt at BentallGreenOak, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Henderson Park and Cole Waterhouse on this project in a key logistics location in the UK. The business plan reflects our debt investment thesis which is to finance best-in-class sponsors who are creating high-quality assets in strong and sustainable locations. This investment builds on 4 million sq ft of logistics assets which BentallGreenOak have lent on in the UK and European logistics markets over the last two years.”
The development represents the country’s only inland distribution park ready enabled to offer tri-modal connectivity to the UK and continental Europe via road, water or rail. The site will have a high level of power capacity for energy intensive operations allowing it to appeal to both traditional industrial and logistics occupiers. Located at the crucial axis of the M62 and the A1(M) it is positioned to address local, regional and national markets as well as international markets with a number of seaports and main UK air freight hubs within 4.5 hours.
The project team includes: C4 Projects acting as architect, project manager and cost consultant; planning consultant Barton Wilmore; XOsquare as structural engineer; Novo Integration (M&E); Terra 97 (Geo-environmental) and Axis PED (transport).
DTRE and Sixteen Real Estate are acting as joint letting agents for the scheme.
