Day: 6 September 2024

Large warehousing and industrial park developments take time and careful project management to bring to fruition. David Priestman speaks to a Project Delivery Director.

Panattoni’s Owen Follett (pictured below) is overseeing all technical aspects of the redevelopment of Honda UK’s vast former car manufacturing plant site near Swindon, Wiltshire. The site closed 3 years ago after 36 years of operation, being the global manufacturing hub of the Honda Civic, as well as for engine production. A $1.5 billion project is establishing a Panattoni Park, which could create 7000 jobs.

Panattoni is a privately-owned, international, purely commercial real estate developer, with European head-quarters in Poland and 59 offices globally, including London. It claims to be the largest provider of pan-European logistics and industrial investment opportunities.

“We have 360 acres,” Follett tells me. “Two-thirds of which will be developed, much of it as B8 storage and distribution facilities.” Demolition started immediately upon possession of the site in February, with full, detailed planning consent having been received last December. The former manufacturing facilities, which had been empty since March 2021, measured over 210,000m2 on plan, and included multiple levels housing the manufacturing processes and material storage.

Ground-breaking

“As part of the demolition will be recycling in the region of 35,000 tonne of metal with approximately 5,000 tonne of that going into direct reuse in the secondary steel,” Follett adds. “We expect to harvest in the reason of 150,000 m3 of aggregates which will be reused on site. All in we expect to be recycling in excess of 98% of all construction waste from the site. These are all important metrics which allow us to construct the plateaus to Net Zero Carbon, a benefit we will be able to take forward into the unit construction. Part of the demolition the material is being harvested by our demolition contractor and recycled into the steel supply chain, including into electric arc furnaces and also direct re-use of some steel members.”

Concurrent with the demolitions, earthworks commenced in June release the services diversions required to construct the plateaus. In total Panattoni will be moving well in excess of 1.5 million m3 of material to create the development plateaus. Follett handled the planning, procurement and appointment of contractors.

The first development plateaus will be available starting January 2025. “We currently have a Reserved Matters planning application running for a 915,000sqft unit (Unit 1) and will be submitting two further applications in July for a 520,000sqft unit (Unit 3) and a 540,000sqft cross-dock (Unit 4).” The plan is to commence on site with these units in Spring 2025, with the first units available for occupation in 4Q2025. “We’re looking for occupiers,” Follett says; “third party logistics companies, end user logistics operations, data centres and some manufacturing.”

Nature reserve

The new park will feature a wetland corridor. As part of the works Panattoni will be opening up the culverted ‘Kingstown Brook’ which meandered across the site until it was diverted below ground prior to the site’s use as a World War II airfield and manufacturing facility. The de-culverted watercourse has been designed in conjunction with a geomorphologist and ecologists to replicate the type of meandering watercourse which would have existed on the site 100 years ago, including riffles and pools serving a diverse range of insect and aquatic species, otters and birds. The works will create a 900m long open corridor through the site serving an important biodiversity habitat and amenity function for occupiers to enjoy.

“As part of the landscaping works, we will be retaining over 80% of the existing woodland which will be enhanced to become more species and age diverse.” Follett enthuses. A further 11 ha of new woodlands will also be planted in the infrastructure, while 5.3 acres of new species rich grassland will be sown. “We’ve got plenty of power too,” he points out, thanks to the pre-existing Honda infrastructure.

Panattoni are speculative developers, but will offer build-to-suit for customers in Swindon. “It’s quicker to on-spec build for tenants,” Follett explains, “otherwise incoming occupiers can spend time on planning and this causes delays,” potentially bogging-down projects. In addition to the Swindon park the company has plots available at existing UK sites such Panattoni Poyle near Heathrow Airport, a speculatively developed last-mile logistics opportunity which will reach practical completion this September.

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