Shed of the Month May 2026: Underestimate at your peril…

The South Yorkshire logistics property  market has always been a little out of sync with the rest of the UK, with – up until now – several ‘sticky’ warehouses. For a lot of occupiers especially those new to the UK, it’s a region that’s well, not the Golden Triangle. However, to dismiss them out of hand because they are in the ‘north’, would be extremely shortsighted and like many regions, occupiers could miss out on the bargains on offer if they don’t use their nous…

 

iP8,  iPort, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN11 0BF

Developer: Verdion

Investment Partner: Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)

Letting Agents: CBRE, Colliers GV& Co

Unit size: 330,104 ft2

Type: Speculative

Power: 650KvA

Sustainability: BREEAM Very Good, EPCA

 

It was definitely a family affair for me and my trusty Lab(Rador) assistant Tia on an early run up the A1 accompanied by brothers, mothers and even sons, on a return visit to iPort.

I wasn’t expecting anything to have changed as such. To be honest when I last visited apart from the frenetic flurry of activity of Amazon van drivers first thing in the morning, it seemed a pretty quiet scheme.

Amazon is still there and it is big and as busy as ever, but so to is everything else.

Whereas two years ago there were four buildings under construction and roads were being built to link the new homes in New Rossington with the scheme – now it’s all up and running, giving a the whole 6 million ft2 development a sense of purpose and cohesion.

And anchoring it all is the 35-acre rail freight terminal which itself has doubled in size since my last visit. Now run by MEDLOG UK, part of the MSC Group, it handles some 500 containers a day moved with Tetris like precision by a fleet of reach stackers that can stack the containers five high as they wait for their inbound or outbound journeys to all major UK ports.

Savvy occupiers at iPort make full use of the facility with Amazon, CEVA and Fellowes all making the most of the opportunity. In fact, Australian toilet paper  company Who Gives A Crap has its own dedicated  rail freight deliveries  arranged through global supply chain partner, the Woodland Group which occupies three facilities on the site.

There are currently three properties immediately available at iPort with a further two on offer as build-to-suit  on oven ready plateaus – including the 846,250 ft2 iP4 unit.

But it is iP8, that we visit. The building totalling some 330,104 ft2 has 316,500 ft2 of warehouse space with 15m eaves as well as 40 dock (with four Euro dock) and 3 level access doors, served by a 53m yard with parking for 46 trailers. It has aprrox. 10,000 ft2 of two-storey offices as well as a 2,000 ft2 transport hub at one end of the  facility.

The yard has two automatic gated entrances directly onto the spine road allowing for easy circulation. There is a separate entrance to the car park and offices, which is well landscaped and suitably imposing.

It is a workmanlike facility with interesting design features  such as the forklift cleaning bay, the use of sinusoidal armoured joints – heavy-duty, leave-in-place steel profiles – used in industrial concrete floors to manage shrinkage and control cracks. Unlike traditional straight joints, they feature a wavy, “sine wave” edge, which allows forklifts and heavy machinery to roll across seamlessly without impact, noise, or damage– an oft overlooked feature. In addition, the warehouse also has 2.4 m concrete plinth around the building – to protect against forklift impacts, seal the building against pests and drafts and serve as retaining walls for bulk materials or raised flooring.

Security across the park is taken seriously with a 24/7 central hub monitoring  every vehicle entering and leaving the scheme as well as observing pedestrians making their way through the park with the use of motion activated cameras. To have my venerable car (it celebrated  its 310,000th mile on the trip up) brought up on screen just via the first  part of the licence plate was a tad disconcerting…

Now, as an adopted daughter of the great county of Yorkshire (I have a certificate given to me aged 6 to prove it) I am naturally biased in its favour. Especially when you realise that compared to the Midlands, rent and labour costs are at a considerable discount. Don’t forget there is an up and running international rail freight terminal on your doorstep and a soon to be vastly expanded air freight hub down the road , added to that is easy access to the East Coast ports and a motorway network including  the A1(M), M62, M18, and M1 meaning that Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle are a just two hours away with the majority of the country including Bristol, Swindon, Liverpool, Felixstowe and London Gateway within the magic four hour drive.

No, it is not the Golden Triangle, but to those in the know, it is a hidden gem and a region not to be underestimated.