Oxford Properties Group and Logistics Capital Partners have teamed up to develop a 734-acre logistics hub near Birmingham.
The companies have formed a co-investment joint venture to put £1bn into the West Midlands Interchange scheme, which will include a rail freight terminal. Oxford Properties and LCP will also build a new link road to connect the A5 and A449.
The vendor, a partnership including Kilbride Holdings and Grosvenor, has already secured planning consent for 8m sq ft of logistics space, with warehouses ranging from 200,000 sq ft to more than 1m sq ft. Infrastructure work is set to start in the first half of next year and the first buildings should be ready for occupation in 2023.
The development is part of Oxford Properties’ plans to deploy £3bn of capital in European logistics by 2025. The company made its first direct European investment last year, buying a 15-acre site in Heathrow alongside LCP.
James Boadle, head of logistics and residential for Europe at Oxford Properties, said: “Logistics remains one of our highest conviction calls globally, benefiting from substantial undersupply of prime new space while the growth of e-commerce and demand for expedited supply chains continues unabated, accelerated by the effects of Covid-19.”
John Pagdin, head of the UK at Logistics Capital Partners, added: “West Midlands Interchange is a fantastic opportunity to build out a uniquely positioned development scheme, allowing us to offer occupiers every possible size, scale, configuration and specification of unit with none of the usual planning delays or uncertainties often associated with schemes of this nature.”
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