Work has started on a 14-unit trade counter and industrial and warehousing development located one-and-a-half miles to the north west of Cheltenham town centre in Gloucestershire.
Called Festival Trade Park, the 4.5-acre development will comprise 14 units ranging in size from 3,487 to 34,981 sq ft. Nine of the units will be trade counter with the remainder for industrial or warehouse use.
Festival Trade Park is being developed by a joint venture (JV) between industrial developer and asset manager Chancerygate and international real estate firm Hines. The JV acquired the site from clothing brand Superdry. Prior to Superdry occupying the site in 2015 it was home to food packaging company Vibixa.
Festival Trade Park is located within the established Kingsditch Trade and Industrial Estate. The development provides access to major road links, including the A40, A4019 and the M5.
Demolition of the existing buildings on the site is currently underway and Chancerygate and Hines are now tendering the main contractor for the build element of the development. All 14 units are expected to be available for occupation in in the first quarter of 2021.
Commenting on Festival Trade Park, Chancerygate development director, George Dickens, said: “There has been very little speculative development of industrial and trade counter units in Cheltenham over the last ten years. Festival Trade Park will provide the town and region with much needed, high quality space in an established trading estate.
“We have already had a number of initial enquiries from interested parties. Now work is underway we will enter into more advanced discussions with potential occupiers about how we can work with them to make Festival Trade Park the best place for them to further grow their businesses.”
Chancerygate and Hines launched their JV in September 2018. It currently has six schemes with a gross development value totalling around £107m, comprising 753,711 sq ft across Cheltenham and further developments in Birmingham, Warrington, Nottingham, Tonbridge and Bournemouth.
Greg Cooper, Hines UK director of industrial and logistics, added: “We are pleased to have started work on this speculative development which we believe will bring much needed light industrial and warehouse space to the region. Early interest from potential occupiers has been encouraging and we look forward to completing the development and securing our first tenants in due course.”
Founded 25 years ago, Chancerygate is the UK’s largest multi-unit industrial developer and asset manager and the only one operating nationwide. The company currently has up to 2.9 million sq ft of industrial space under construction or ready for development across 25 sites ranging from Bournemouth in Dorset to Livingston, West Lothian.
Chancerygate also manages in excess of £220m of assets across more than 4.9 million sq ft of commercial space in 355 units. The company has offices in London, Warrington, Birmingham and Milton Keynes.
The developer and asset manager’s JV partner, Hines, manages a combined UK commercial property portfolio worth more than £2bn and has advised on more than four million sq ft of projects acquired, completed or in the pipeline.
The site selling agent was Richard Knightley and Festival Trade Park’s marketing agents are Colliers, KBW and Alder King.