Wrenbridge and Fiera Real Estate (“FRE”) have purchased the former Wood Plc offices at Shinfield Park, Reading in an off-market transaction. The 285,000 sqft, 1980s ‘brutalist’ office buildings were originally built for the County Council and have recently become surplus to Wood Plc’s requirements.
The business plan is to replace the obsolete buildings with 6 state of the art logistics units totalling 225,000 sqft and with a GDV of c.£75m, designed to complement the mature, landscaped setting of the site. Units will range between 20,000 to 88,000 sq ft and will meet the highest urban logistics specifications, with self contained yards, dedicated parking, whilst targeting BREEAM Excellent and EPC A+ ESG credentials.
Shinfield Park is located in a prime spot just South of Reading’s centre. The development will be situated one mile from J11 of the M4 as well as being less than 30 minutes to J15 of the M25. The M4 corridor is experiencing considerable rental growth and the demand for mid-box logistics units is very high.
For FRELD, this represents the 11th acquisition since inception, which has further funds to deploy into similar small and mid-box urban UK logistics sites.
Chris Button, Head of Investment Management at Fiera Real Estate, commented ““This project will showcase the power of combining institutional capital prepared to undertake speculative development with the entrepreneurial flair and technical know-how of Wrenbridge”
Ben Coles, Chief Executive of Wrenbridge, comments “We are delighted to have completed another prime logistics acquisition backed by Fiera. Another brilliant location that we believe will attract occupiers out of London to pay some sensible rents. It’s another piece of the jigsaw puzzle for prime sites we are purchasing that wrap around North, East and West London outside the M25. We are keen for more opportunities.”