Globus takes 73,000 sq ft at Stone Cross

Stoford Developments and its development partner Oxenwood Real Estate have let a speculative warehouse at the business park in Golborne to Globus Group, a manufacturer of personal protective equipment.

Under the 10-year lease, Globus is to occupy the 72,740 sq ft Stone Cross 72 warehouse, on the site of the former Carlsberg brewery depot on Yew Tree Way at Stone Cross Business Park near Warrington.

The deal is intended to support Globus’ UK and international expansion strategy on the back of a surge in demand for PPE amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company, which has office premises in Trafford Park, won a contract this year to supply millions of high-performance surgical face masks to the Department of Health and Social Care.

It intends to manufacture 75% of its products in the UK and has commissioned two factories – the facility in Warrington and one in South West Scotland – to deliver the work.

Stone Cross 72 is the second phase of Stoford and Oxenwood’s Stone Cross Business Park, which reached practical completion in March. The development partners sold the first phase – an existing 126,000 sq ft logistics facility – to international packaging firm Alpla last year.

The developers acquired the vacant former brewery depot site on which Stone Cross 72 sits from Carlsberg in 2018 for an undisclosed sum.

Tony Nash, director of Stoford, said: “Globus is an expanding business that continues to provide an important service during the pandemic, and its investment in Stone Cross 72 is a significant boost to the local employment market.

“The business park was constructed to meet continuing demand in the warehouse sector in the North West. We have delivered two high-specification industrial/warehouse units in a prime logistics location with outstanding motorway connectivity, which have attracted considerable interest from occupiers.”

Stewart Little, co-founder of Oxenwood, added: “The letting of the building so soon after practical completion stabilises the wider asset and supports our strategy of undertaking speculative development in locations where we have conviction in the underlying occupational markets.”

Steven Binnie, director of Globus Group, said the company is “deepening” its commitment to the North West, “creating new jobs and contributing to the vibrant regional economy”. The PPE equipment at Stone Cross will be produced through the company’s Alpha Solway division, he added.

The letting agent for the scheme is Gerald Eve, and industrial property consultancy RGD Consulting represented Globus Group in the deal.