Construction of a second speculative development at a prime site in the Midland’s ‘Golden Triangle’ is now underway, leading asset manager BlackRock and its development partner, commercial property developer Stoford, have announced.
The development of a 103,300 sq ft warehouse/distribution unit at Siskin Parkway West, Middlemarch Business Park, Coventry, is expected to reach practical completion at the end of this year.
Carbon 103 lies in close proximity to Carbon 207, a 207,340 sq ft warehouse/distribution speculatively developed by the two companies which recently reached practical completion. Benniman has been appointed as the main contractor for the construction of Carbon 103.
Funded by BlackRock’s UK Property Fund, the two developments would create hundreds of new jobs and bring further investment to the area.
Stoford joint managing director Dan Gallagher said: “Having recently reached practical completion of Carbon 207, we are delighted to announce that we have now moved on to begin the construction of Carbon 103.
“Carbon 207 has generated a high level of interest from prospective occupiers which gave us the confidence to go on and speculatively develop Carbon 103. It is well known that the demand for high quality warehouse and distribution accommodation in the West Midlands is outstripping supply, which is particularly constrained within the circa 100,000 sq ft size range. This new Grade A logistics space in one of the Midland’s top locations will appeal to businesses across a broad spectrum.”
Middlemarch Business Park lies within the Midland’s ‘Golden Triangle’, located adjacent to the A45 and Coventry Airport, and accessed via the recently upgraded Toll Bar junction. It is a well-located distribution park extending to more than 100 acres, with occupiers including Unipart, Volvo, Walkers Crisps, Gist and Parcelforce.
Matt Wheeldon, director of BlackRock, said: “We have partnered successfully with Stoford on Carbon 207, and other projects, and are delighted to be delivering another high quality product to market whilst adding further prime real estate to our UK portfolio. The speculative development of good quality logistics space in prime, supply-constrained locations is one of BlackRock UK Property Fund’s key strategies.”
Stoford is a leading specialist in warehouse and distribution development. It has delivered more than 12 million sq ft of pre-let development and in 2016/17 has more than 3.4 million sq ft of pre-let space under construction throughout the UK.
