Belgian 3PL to take 870,000 sq ft Suffolk site

Belgian 3PL Weerts Group has secured just over 42-acres at developer Jaynic’s 114-acre Suffolk Park at Bury St Edmunds for a new 870,000 sq ft logistics unit to be delivered in summer 2021.

The facility will be developed in two phases with a first phase of 476,000 sq ft to be completed in Summer 2021 and the second phase following immediately.

Weerts Group said: “A number of companies are looking for local storage and distribution solutions in the United Kingdom, in order to minimize administrative, fiscal and logistical complexity, from January 2021. Weerts Group helps them to address this need.”

The state-of-the-art logistics building will be built to BREEAM certification “very good”. It will have 13m eaves as well as 66 dock level doors. The roof fitted with solar panels.

The first phase of the project has already been let, leaving a further 400,000 sq ft available for other customers.

Pascal Weerts, Chief Executive of Weerts Group, said: “We are delighted to support one of our biggest clients in their international growth and expansion by setting up our first important warehousing facility in the UK, and to have attracted a solid financial partner to secure the funding of the land acquisition and the development (Blackstone).”

A detailed planning application hasbeen submitted to West Suffolk Council.

Ben Oughton, Development Director of Jaynic, said: “This is a very significant deal for Suffolk Park, Suffolk and East Anglia. This transaction with Weerts Group comes swiftly on the heels of the sale of our SP206 unit to Chinese consumer goods importer M H Star and re-affirms the rapidly increasing popularity of the A14 as a logistics location. In under six months these two transactions amount to 1.1m sq ft of warehousing and the creation of around 700 jobs for the local economy,” added Oughton.

Richard Pyatt, a Director at Hazells Chartered Surveyors, said: “This is a stellar example of the increasing demand from major logistics companies who see Felixstowe and the A14 as an alternative to the Kent ports for their links to the European continent. Securing a major occupier of this nature represents a significant boost for the local economy in Bury St Edmunds and underlines Suffolk Park as the pre-eminent logistics park in the region.”

Elsewhere at Suffolk Park the 112,000 sq ft first phase of fragrance ingredient manufacturer Treatt’s new global headquarters, being developed by Jaynic is due for completion imminently. The 114-acre Suffolk Park has outline planning consent for 2 million sq ft of business, distribution, and industrial space.

Suffolk Park agents are Hazells Chartered Surveyors, Bidwells and Savills.