Work in Progress
We bring you up to date on two exciting developments acquired through ProLogis’ recent company mergers.
ProLogis’ mergers with Severn Trent Property and sections of Parkridge Holdings generated a lot of news print in both the national and specialist press. So how are we getting on with our new land bank?
The biggest UK land transaction of 2006 was ProLogis’ acquisition of more than 240 acres of development sites from Severn Trent Property at a cost of £75 million.
One of those schemes was Midpoint Park near Birmingham, now known as ProLogis Park Minworth. The 84-acre site is in an excellent central location, close to both the M6 and M42. ProLogis has been busy since the purchase and is now awaiting planning permission for four buildings totalling 835,000 sq ft. Groundwork is already in full swing.
“Work on the ‘off-site’ Minworth village by-pass began in March, connecting the development to Kingsbury Road, the main link to the M42,” says Vince O’Connell, Vice President Project Management. “We also started remediation at the former Severn Trent sludge drying beds in May.
“We treated them with PFA [pulverised fuel ash from coal-fired power stations], lime and cement. This has the effect of locking in methane, which is of course a greenhouse gas, and meant we did not incur the cost of moving the sludge off the site.
“The methane lock-in aspect means we have carbon credits that we can pass on to our customers when they move in.”
Moving on in Mansfield
The news that ProLogis was taking on the industrial elements of Parkridge Holdings, the industrial business of entrepreneur John Cutts, made even more headlines. The sale, for around £298 million, included the portfolio of Astral, Parkridge’s logistics development company in the UK.
One of Astral’s prime sites was MARR Park, Mansfield, a 130-acre scheme with planned first-phase development of 1 million sq ft. This will be known as ProLogis Park Mansfield.
“We now have planning permission on 50 acres of the site and are on-site to start the levelling work and build the infrastructure,” says Simon Spencer, Vice President Development. “In terms of the actual building work, we should start the first phase in the spring with a 300,000 sq ft facility.
“There are another 80 acres of the site which are not zoned but we are working very closely with Ashfield Council to move things on. They have been very supportive and we have an excellent working relationship with them.”
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