Chancerygate to plot £32m new industrial site near London
One of the UK’s largest industrial developers Chancerygate has lined up a string of sites in Leatherhead for a £32m development, as the logistics sector looks set to become the country’s largest employer.
A raft of property firms, including British Land, LondonMetric and BMO Commercial Property Trust have turned their focus to logistics real estate in London, as post-Brexit bureaucracy and post-Covid disruptions hamper overseas supply chains.
The pandemic-era online shopping boom has created further demand for local distribution hubs. And although consumer spending is expected to slow amid the cost of living crisis, developers show no signs of slowing their acquisitions steamroll in the sector.
As London’s logistics market heats up, Chancerygate’s eyes have fallen on Leatherhead, just a stone’s throw away from the M25 and Greater London.
Then 4.6-acre development, across two adjacent sites, is hoped to host up to 82,400 ft of industrial and warehousing space, neighbouring businesses such as Unilever and engineering consultancies KBR and RINA Tech UK.
The logistics sector currently employs 1,250,000 people across the country, an increase of some 200,000 since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, according to a new report by Frontier Economics, commissioned by LogisticsUK and Amazon.
The current figure also represents an around 50 per cent uplift in comparison with 10 years ago.
“Leatherhead’s proximity to excellent transport connections and an affluent, skilled workforce has resulted in a thriving business community, including an array of established, blue chip multi-national companies,” Cahncerygate’s head of development Alastair King said.
“Our proposed development of high specification, sustainable industrial accommodation will complement the local and regional economy and stimulate further investment and job creation.”