By Liza Helps, Property Editor, Logistics Matters

Multi-let industrial estates can conjure up a picture of cramped, crowded, run down properties with a constantly changing landscape of occupation, and in many places that is exactly what you find but there is a growing interest in, and movement by an increasing number of property investors and developers to provide an alternative. They are building and developing best-in-class property – rivalling anything found on the most modern of industrial and logistics parks available – to take advantage of the wide base of occupiers associated with multi-let space, spreading investment risk and of course garnering excellent opportunities for asset management and returns on investment.

 

Unit B8, Logicor Park, Albion Drive, Dartford KentDA15PT

Development type: Speculative

Owner/Developer: Logicor

Letting Agents: DTRE, Glenny and SHW

Unit size: 4,805 ft2

Power: 3 Phase + Solar PV

Sustainability: BREEAM Excellent and EPC A

 

It’s another trip  down the A12 and round the M25 for Lab(rador) Assistant Tia and myself to visit our first multi-let industrial estate – about as different a property as you can get from last month’s Shed of The Month the 500,000 ft2 plus Ultrabox in Purfleet but surprisingly there are also a lot of things in common.

First both have excellent transport links for travelling into Central London and also joining the M25 to access almost anywhere in the UK with Logicor’s scheme also being withint an hours striking distance of both Dover and Eurotunnel.

Second both developments are highly sustainable securing BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings , and lastly on this theme both provide potential occupiers roof mounted solar PV.

Host James Carney, Logicor’s UK asset management director, took us on a whistle stop tour of the unit which seemed surprisingly big and light although that was easily explained as all the units have 8m eaves (enough to height to fit out a mezzanine if required) as well as roof lights.

The big roller doors can accommodate even European HGVs and the yard space though shared was copious and benefits from estate-wide CCTV for safety.

The properties are fitted out with LED lighting and EV chargers, have shower rooms and disabled toilets as well as internal Grade A offices fitted out with kitchenettes and big bright windows. 

Being part of a wider logistics park the scheme benefits from a wide range of amenities from bee hotels ( which Tia found fascinating) riverside footpaths, bike shelters and even a bike to work scheme.

Carney was quick to point out that for such small units they pack a mighty punch – certainly in terms of operational savings when occupiers take the opportunity to utilise the power generated from the solar PV. But he didn’t want Tia or I to take his word for it so introduced us to one of his tenants, Tony O’Malley managing director of Rendrive Haulage.

For O’Malley the move to Logicor Park Dartford has been a seriously smart move. He reckons just using the electricity generated from the rooftop solar PV is saving him £400 a week on fuel costs for his forklifts. “Running forklifts costs a lot, you used to be able to use red diesel then the Government banned it and costs rose from 60p to £1.10 a litre diesel overnight, so we switched to gas but then we wake up one day and thanks to Trump [and the war with Iran] gas prices spiked overnight again.”

It’s not just the savings using Solar PV that have made this move so smart for O’Malley, the fact that the development sits outside the DVS is a stroke of genius too.

The Direct Vision Standard (DVS) in London is a cab visibility safety permit scheme for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) over 12 tonnes to protect more vulnerable road users from collisions caused by driver blind spots. It is applicable across all 32 London Boroughs with a £550 per day fine if HGVs do not have or are not fitted with the right level of visibility from the cab. As Dartford is not a London Borough the DVS is not applicable

O’Malley’s business involves bringing goods in from Europe on HGVs, by bringing the HGV direct to Dartford then unloading it to smaller vehicles for  delivery into London, this saves him the cost of a fine.

Extolling his new facility to the hilt, it was all about its location: “All these other big companies,” he said expansively, “must have done their research about this location that’s the reason they are here, I’m just piggy backing on the back of that – the clustering effect.”

Being modern buildings with high ESG also plays in his favour, customers want to know about his company’s carbon use to track their Scope 3 emissions; the fact the buildings have high BREEAM  and EPC ratings and the fact that Rendrive is using solar power to charge its forklifts can help secure contracts.

If all that were not enough to put a smile on a face, while chatting to the irrepressible O’Malley, Tia and I were treated  to a blissful rain shower – something none of us had experienced for longer than we cared to remember – a bit like our conversation though, it was cut far too short.

Somewhere along the line in between marvelling at how big and light the properties were to chatting in the rain to Mr O’Malley, there was talk of a Greggs.

At this point in time to distract Tia from boisterously visiting the bees or taking it into her head that on such a hot day a dip in the Thames was a good idea – a Greggs was just the thing: she and I shared a sausage roll on the drive home though I must admit my one bite did not seem to be anywhere near as large as hers….