By Kristy Dorsey
Aberdeen’s first dedicated logistics park has signed a major anchor tenant as the rise of online retail continues to drive broader demand for industrial space.
International shipping giant FedEx has pre-let 43,500sq ft at the 20-acre Aberdeen One logistics park on a 15-year lease. Under the development agreement with the park’s owners, Titan Investors, an existing 70,000sq ft warehouse will be stripped back to its structural frame and refurbished with new offices and yard facilities, with FedEx to take occupation in July.
The site had previously been the North Sea headquarters of French oil major Total, dating back to the 1970s. Titan Investors acquired it in 2018 and demolished the old office facilities to generate 20 acres of development land.
According to commercial real estate agency CBRE, which represented Titan Investors in the FedEx deal, activity in the industrial property market in Aberdeen remains on the increase despite the wider economic challenges posed by the Covid pandemic.
Iain Landsman, associate director at CBRE, said take-up amounted to 720,780sq ft in 2020 to mark the fourth year of growth.
“The five-year annual average take-up is 652,500sq ft – this has been exceeded in 2018, 2029 and again in 2020,” he said. “There are a lot of positives to take going into 2021 and beyond.”
READ MORE: Scottish industrial delivery hubs 'hot property' in pandemic market
Alongside the facilities for FedEx, a further 28,000sq ft of warehouse space will be simultaneously redeveloped, also ready for occupation in July. A new dedicated entrance to be created onto Crawpeel Road will allow the remaining 14 acres of development land to be built out via independent access points.
“Much of Aberdeen’s dated industrial stock no longer meets the needs of today’s occupiers and so Titan Investors are raising the development standards in the city by developing state-of-the-art logistics facilities, for the benefit of the local economy,” Mr Landsman added.
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