Shed of the Month September 2025: Logicor-ly

It’s the investor and asset manager’s first UK development with planning announced in 2023 and the thinking behind it, is utterly logical…

The development nestles deep in the heart of the Midlands on what was formerly an old Tesco distribution centre originally built in the 1960s morphing over the decades to some 951,000 ft2 sprawled across a site of some 38.5 acres.

And it is nothing like what it used to be…

Unit 1 Logicor Park Daventry, Royal Oak Industrial Estate NN11 8QL

Developer: Logicor

Contractor: Benniman

Letting Agents: DTRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield

Unit Size: 386,156 ft2

Power: 1.75MvA

Sustainability: BREEAM Excellent and EPC A

Not surprisingly over the decades it had numerous landlords and was in active tenancy right up until 2024 when it served as an Amazon over flow hub run by 3PL GXO.

Logicor acquired the property nicknamed Bigfoot in 2021 from Oxenwood at the height of the ecommerce boom during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown for a rumoured £85 million some way above its original asking price of £70 million amid a flurry of bids.

The subsequent £48 million project to deliver three units of 386,156 ft2, 280,806 ft2 and 135,662 ft2  totalling 802,624 ft2 could prove to be an astute move offering a range of unit sizes which are now rapidly moving into short supply in the region with prime rents now pushing £10 per ft2 and above for units over 100,000 ft2 up from an average prime rent of £7 per ft2 in 2021.

While that could be counted as serendipity from an investment point of view, the demolition and redevelopment of the site  was carefully considered and well thought out right form the get go – no planning issue here so to speak, as the site was already in  employment use for industrial and logistics. Its redevelopment utterly logical.

As the first development undertaken directly by the investor and asset manager in the UK, it was a bit of an experiment and subsequent applications and redevelopments have built on these foundations, pushing boundaries of the possible especially on sustainability.

While these three units are BREEAM Excellent and an EPC A rating subsequent development in Derby and Bolton have aimed higher with Logicor’s 507,503 ft2 Derby 507 securing BREEAM Excellent and an EPC A+ rating and its 331,982 ft2 Bolt330 pushing a BREEAM Outstanding and EPC A+ rating.

Logicor’s director and assent manager Anthony McCluskie notes: “The dial has moved in the last few years for occupiers and investors  for best in class facilities to bring operating costs down or protecting investment value and the most logical way to do that is through sustainability and what could be more sustainable than redeveloping  sites and warehouses that are long past their sell-by date?”

The site has been made deliberately smaller in terms of square footage and everything that could be re-used was re-used on the construction which involved the demolition and recycling of 3,500 tonnes of steelwork from the original unit, as well as processing 45,000 cubic metres of stone for re-use to reduce the project’s overall environmental impact.

Squeezed on to the site behind the buildings some 4,500 trees were planted to create 2.2 acres of woodland not just to enhance the local biodiversity but also to screen the buildings more thoroughly from neighbours overlooking the site.

Logicor project management director Matthew Storr when describing the development of the scheme said: “Some developers will try and max out a scheme, particularly in urban areas, and squeeze every inch out of the site and put in funny corners and all of these things. But here, we have gone for a less dense scheme, specifically to target these [ESG] gains and make it a nice place to work and operate from.”

The buildings, and in particular Unit , are everything you’d expect of modern day best-in-class scheme. Unit 1 boasts a 365,151 ft2 warehouse with 18m eaves as well as 38 dock (six of which are Euro dock levellers) and three level access doors with clerestory windows above the docks served by a 50m yard where there is parking for 41 HGVs.

Car parking is kept separate and fronts the three storey L-shaped Grade A offices boasting full height glazing at each end  with areas suitable for board rooms or break out areas even in the under croft which could be used for activities such as a canteen or gym accessible for both office and warehouse workers. The main offices have standard glazing reducing solar gain. On each  office level there are kitchenettes and  washroom facilities. In addition to the main offices, Unit 1 also boasts a hub office.

There are amenity areas sheltered from the wind and an outdoor gym  for use by occupier employees as well as the aforementioned woodland spaces.

As yet Logicor has not looked at any greenfield development  and while that is not off he  agenda, there is a focus on refurbishment  then redevelopment in select locations.

Logicor managing director Charlie Howard said: “From an environmental point of view, often refurbishment is better and there’s a stronger case for that over development. In selective locations where the assets are beyond their life and we can’t refurbish them to a higher standard, that is when we look at redevelopment.

“Logicor Park Daventry is a great illustration of how we, as one of the largest industrial portfolio owners in the UK, are able to utilise our existing land to bring forward new and exciting warehouse opportunities for our customers through development and refurbishments.”

And Logicor have a lot of industrial and logistics assets in the UK….