Land sale sparks new speculative logistics development

The £39.9 million sale of 80-acres of land is paving the way for a major speculative logistics development in Derbyshire.

Bolsover Land, a joint venture between ALMCOR and St Francis Group, has sold the plot at its 1.4 million ft2 Horizon 29 site to BentallGreenOak and Equation Properties who are set to develop out 1.2 million ft2 with the first speculative phase set to be constructed this year.

The 140-acre Horizon 29 site is located adjacent to Junction 29A of the M1 motorway and Markham Vale.

Gareth Williams, development director at St Francis Group, said: “This sale highlights the expertise within the group and the wider joint venture to unlock technically challenging brownfield sites, and to complete significant highway and service infrastructure to create a development ready site capable of immediate development.

“Having jointly invested significant funds to achieve this in time to capitalise on rising demand for serviced land, we are delighted to have completed this sale to BGO and to have secured a programme of speculative development at Horizon29.”

Horizon 29, formerly the Coalite works, was acquired by Bolsover in 2012. Bolsover Land retains more than 33 acres for further development, which will be brought forward alongside the BGO project.

Gareth Purcell, Managing Director at BentallGreenOak, added: “The first phases of the site already benefit from reserved matters planning consent and we will be commencing speculative development works on site during Q2, with the first units completing by year-end.

“This deal closes out a very busy year for BGO’s UK logistics platform, with us having acquired land to deliver five million ft2 of new logistics space with our partners at Equation Properties in addition to a further 3.7 million ft2 of standing assets across a total of 12 separate transactions.”

BLL was advised by JLL and Clyde & Co and BGO and Equation were advised by Burbage Realty and Taylor Wessing.