Shed of the Month: Small but mighty
In the big scheme of things, a 77,947 ft2 warehouse facility is not exactly, well – not exactly. It’s size would suggest that it’s a run of the mill small to midbox shed but Bridge Industrial’s Bridge Point Southall warehouse is one, in London and two, is big in all the right places…
By Liza Helps, Property Editor, Logistics Matters
Bridge Point Southall, Collett Way UB2 4SE
Developer: Bridge Industrial
Letting Agents: JLL and Cogent
Unit Size: 77,947 ft2
Power: 500KvA to unit
Sustainability: BREEAM Excellent and EPC A+ (-4)
Quoting: £27.50 per ft2
It has a 15m clear internal height and that is big, especially for a 77,947 ft2 last mile urban warehouse within the M25 Motorway a mere five miles from Heathrow Airport. And when rents for warehouse space inside the M25 motorway are pushing ever upwards – when last looked Park Royal rents were pushing over £30 per ft2 and according to Savills Global Industrial Rent report average prime warehousing costs in London increased 7.1% to June 2024 to average $44 per ft2 – every bit of space counts.
We are talking volumetrics or at least my host Bridge Industrial UK’s Senior Vice President, Head of Development Tim Bradshaw is. “The 15m clear height gives you 25% more cubic capacity than a building with a 12m clear height and a third more than one with 10m eaves. That is significantly greater.”
Bridge did a study and reckons that up to 13,648 pallets spaces could be accommodated using a VNA racking layout or 11,088 on a wide aisle storage layout.
And with a relatively small footprint that 15m clear height makes the space inside feel cavernous which the one set of columns running centrally down the building only enhances. The 15% rooflights flood the space with light and a strip of clerestory windows above the docking area adds to the sense of space even on a relatively cloudy day.
The height allows the property to consider the possibility of adding mezzanine space – up to three further floors ever increasing the warehouse’s configuration flexibility.
I visited the site earlier this month and walked from Southall station getting an up close and personal view of its sheer size as I strolled alongside it from the footpath. It is well and thoughtfully landscaped – indeed it secured a 100% BNG as previously the site was open storage for a scaffolding firm and there was literally nothing there.
It is right next door to the Great Western Mainline and while it is truly a noisy location with the trains thundering past that also means there is no issue with operations running 365 days a year 24/7.
That said while you could see the trains from the offices – the full length floor to ceiling glazing on the two meeting pods on both first and second floors making the most of the view – noise was not an issue.
The main office areas had half glazing modestly hiding employees sitting at their desks from potential voyeurs from the street below in addition maintaining a professional outlook for any potential occupier – nothing looks more dire than seeing people’s sports gear and other detritus, computer wires and the like, piled up against full glazing for all the world to see.
What was fun though were the two discrete windows on each floor in the offices overlooking the warehouse space below, adding that extra bit of interest and light. “Everyone enjoys watching what goes on in a warehouse,” and I agree – it can be mesmerising.
The fit out of the Cat A office space was as you would expect, with well appointed facilities, a kitchenette, plenty of loos, storage space etc. There is car parking for 25 cars all with 100% active and passive EV charging points.
The warehouse’s fully secured yard ranges from 35 – 43m in depth and while there is not any dedicated trailer parking as such, there is space that could easily accommodate at least five to the west of the site. Circulation would not be a problem despite the fact that site coverage is at 60%. There are six Hormann dock and two level access doors which come with guarantees.
As with the majority of Grade A warehouse building in the UK, the roof is 100% PV ready. A maximum coverage is estimated to provide some 259.12 kW a year securing cost savings of up to £1.46 per ft2 on current estimates and a Co2 saving of 58t a year.
A quick desk top study of warehouse space in West London concludes that there are no equivalent buildings in terms of eaves height and floorspace immediately available. There is British Land’s The Box scheme in Paddington offering 150,000 ft2 of space but that is expected to be split into smaller units and only has an 8m eaves height, Oxenwood’s Acton 106 has 12.5m eaves but is yet to be built and the only contender height wise Blue Coast Capital’s circa 92,000 ft2 Pulse facility with up to 18m eaves, remains good on paper nearly three years after securing planning.
