Pharma company upsizes in Knowsley

Signing a 15-year lease for Knowsley 108, generic medicine manufacturer RelonChem has increased its distribution space in Merseyside by 40%.

RelonChem will soon occupy the 108,000 sq ft shed at Knowsley Business Park, which is situated along East Lancashire Road. The company is relocating its 40 employees from a 77,000 sq ft warehouse at Saturn Park to the newer premises.

RelonChem operations director Stephen Molyneux said that the move will enable the company to more than double its pallet capacity, going from 11,000 to 25,000.

Knowsley 108, which was built last year, will now undergo a £2.5m fit-out to ensure it meets regulations for pharmaceutical properties.

“The fit-out will include rigorous security measures, temperature control across the entire space, a sprinkler system, new racking, office fit-out and secure perimeter fencing and controlled access,” Molyneux said.

“To ensure compliance with the necessary regulatory authorities this will be a challenging piece of work to complete over the next six months but our ambition – under the visionary leadership of Mr Sathish Kumar – is to make Knowsley 108 the best pharma distribution centre in Europe.”

Knowsley 108, formerly known as Knowsley 107, has a BREEAM score of Excellent and was designed by AJA Architects. Pembury Real Estate was the developer behind the scheme, with Abrdn Proeprty Income Trust as the funder.

The shed was acquired by Farran Investment and GoldenTree Asset Management earlier this year. Knight Frank and LM6 are the joint agents for Knowsley 108.

Rob Tilley, industrial partner at Knight Frank, said that the lease spoke to the strength of the market in the North West.

“This deal proves again that we need industrial logistics and distribution space of the highest quality to be able to support the growth of international companies RelonChem,” Tilley said.

“It justifies the confidence to build speculatively and the astute move by Farran Investments to acquire it as part of a portfolio.”

In commenting on the lease deal, Molyneux made a point to praise Tilley especially.

“We are very grateful to Rob at Knight Frank for helping make this happen,” Molyneux said.

“He often went above and beyond to keep it on track, and understood the significance of helping us make the right move.”

RelonChem has 220 employees and is headquartered in Widnes. In addition to its distribution centre in Knowsley, it operates a factory in Southport.