Category: UNITED KINGDOM

West Property Fund and Milkwood Property Holdings adds two new properties to UK portfolio

As part of West Property Fund’s expansion into the United Kingdom, we are excited to announce that Milkwood Property Holdings, an associate of West Property Fund, has acquired two new properties in Basildon, Essex and Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, respectively. This expands our UK portfolio to a total of eight properties and circa 225,000 sq ft.

The 57,685 sq ft Basildon property is centered around the north of the town centre, at Festival Park, Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, Juniper Park and Zenith Business Park.

The property is being leased on a long-term basis to a third-party logistics company offering transport and logistic solutions through air, ocean and road freight. Constructed in 2019, the building boasts a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM rating and an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of A.

Covering 27,750 sq ft, the Bishop’s Stortford property is conveniently situated on Junction 8 of the M11 motorway, a mere 5-minute drive from London Stanstead airport.

The building is being leased on a long-term basis to a world leader in serving science providing cryogenic storage services on the premises. A huge benefit of the property is a rare 1MVA power supply, which unlocks many potential future uses of the space. The building has an EPC of B.

The acquisition of these two properties is another step forward for West Property Fund and Milkwood, allowing us to continue to expand our portfolio of high-quality, sought-after industrial real estate in our focus areas in the south of England.

West Property Fund buys additional UK property, inside M25

We recently acquired a share in Chaucer House, a logistics property, in south east of London. This acquisition expands our UK portfolio to six properties. We are particularly excited about this new acquisition as it is our first property situated to the east of London in a very sought after node close to excellent transport links, just five miles from Junction 1A of the M25, and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. The M20 motorway is also within easy reach, providing access to the major ports of Dover and Folkestone.

A refurbishment project is already well under way, which, once complete, will position the asset to attract blue chip logistics tenants at higher rentals on long-term leases. This is likely to be supported by plans to improve and transform the area in coming years, with substantial infrastructure development planned, along with a new residential development nearby.

Logistics property demand in the UK was boosted in the short term by trends arising out of the pandemic, with the sector likely to see continued growth into 2021.

Overall trends in the region are emphasizing the appeal of light industrial property that’s well suited to logistics and other similar businesses. Even though the UK’s vaccination programme is already ubiquitous, the popularity of online shopping continues to increase, as does demand for other consumer goods across the country.