Knowsley industrial spec development planned
Developer New Capital Knowsley is set to start on site next month with construction of a 110,000 sq ft unit, with B8RE appointed sole letting agent.
The building is to be known as Venus 110, and is being built at the junction of Boundary Road and Hornhouse Lane at the entrance of Knowsley Industrial Park.
The unit will provide a detached high bay distribution facility on a site of 6.5-acres. The scheme includes 10,000 sq ft of offices.
Venus 110 received £1m in grant from the European Regional Development Fund. The project is expected to complete in April 2015.
According to the B8RE North West industrial and logistics market report releases yesterday, no new stock was available in the prime North West core in the first half of 2014, with all notable transactions limited to second-hand buildings. A growing amount of imminent speculative development is in the pipeline, to meet investment appetite which has seen H1 2014 investment volumes hit £230m, double that of the same period in 2013.
The report shows that there are more than £200m of industrial assets sold or under offer so far in the second half of this year. The majority of demand is focussed on assets worth in excess of £4m, with the average lot size for the first half at around £8m.
Howard George, director of B8 Real Estate, said: "The North West has a severe shortage of new distribution facilities. Take-up in this sector over the last three years has been at record levels with now not a single building of over 100,000 sq ft in the prime North West core from Liverpool to Manchester.
"The completion of Venus 110 will provide much needed accommodation for companies not having time to wait for a Design & Build option."
