IM Properties to build industrial warehouses speculatively21st May 2013

IM Properties has shown major confidence in the economic recovery by becoming the UK’s first developer in five years to speculatively build large scale industrial warehousing.

The West Midlands based company is constructing two logistics units totalling 334,500 sq ft at its award winning Birch Coppice Business Park off the M42 in North Warwickshire - already home to occupants such as Ocado, UPS, Volkswagen Group, Euro Car Parts and Roadways Container Logistics.

Construction work is set to begin at the start of July and will be completed in January 2014. There has been no speculative construction of standard distribution units over 100,000 sq ft since 2008. This move ends the debate over which developer would be the first to undertake speculative development.

IM Properties’ Development Director Kevin Ashfield said: “We are pleased to be leading the way in large scale speculative development. There is a severe shortage of good quality stock both regionally and nationwide, and against this backdrop of decreasing availability we are seeing increasing occupier demand. Occupiers need certainty over deliverability and few companies can wait for a design and build solution. We believe the time is right for speculative development."

“Our strong financial position and belief in Birch Coppice as a premier rail-served business park in a prime location gives us the confidence to seize this opportunity.”

Situated in Dordon at Junction 10 of the M42, the 400 acre Birch Coppice Business Park is the West Midlands' largest rail-served development site and one of the regions’ biggest employment success stories.