Supply

Even with the delivery of 353,732 sq ft speculative space at Suffolk Park, Bury St Edmunds, the total supply of units over 100,000 sq ft has fallen year-on-year and now stands at 861,833 sq ft across five separate units.

The main driver for the fall in supply has been almost 500,000 sq ft of Grade C space being withdrawn from the market in King’s Lynn after Gardman chose to re-occupy after their Midlands warehouse was damaged by fire.

All units in the region on the market are under 300,000 sq ft, with the average size being 172,000 sq ft. The largest unit on the market is Huntingdon 252 which has been vacant for 16 months.

Take-up

Following on from four consecutive years of growth and the success of Gateway Peterborough, developed by Roxhill, which now has just two plots remaining, 2018 has started slowly. There have been just three deals on units over 100,000 sq ft which total 467,470 sq ft.

Online retailer Yours Clothing have taken 127,470 sq ft at Newcombe House in Peterborough.

Meanwhile at Suffolk Park, Bury St Edmunds, local company Sealey Professional Tools has bought a seven-acre site where they intend to construct a 110,000 sq ft unit for future expansion.

The largest deal of the year has been LDH Ladoria who have purchased a site at Ipswich Gateway where Panattoni are constructing a 40m high unit of c.230,000 sq ft.

Development pipeline

Following the delivery in Q4 2018 of two units at Suffolk Park Bury St Edmunds, which total 353,732 sq ft, there are no speculative units scheduled for delivery in 2019.

These units are the first speculative units to be delivered in the region for over a decade.