Consent in the bag for £35m Aurora Park

A joint venture between Chancerygate and Hines has secured planning permission for a 133,500 sq ft nine-unit logistics development in Redditch.

Aurora Park’s units will range from 7,685 sq ft to 22,055 sq ft. Work is scheduled to start on site in summer and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

Located on a 6.4-acre site on North Moons Moat industrial estate, Aurora Park is three miles from Redditch town centre, three miles from Junction 3 of the M42 and 15 miles from Birmingham city centre.

Chancerygate, one of the nation’s most active industrial developers, and its investor partner Hines, will target EPC A and BREEAM Excellent ratings.

All units will have dedicated yards and car parking and fully fitted first floor offices. In addition, there will be air source heat pumps, electric vehicle charging points and photovoltaic roof panels.

Existing nearby businesses include Amazon, iForce, Lear Corporation and AMCO.

The joint venture is funded by Hines European Real Estate Partners III (HEREP), which has more than £1.3bn of equity commitments.

Chancerygate development manager, Rob Watts, who is based in the company’s Birmingham office, said: “We can now move forward with Aurora Park in a market where demand for sustainable Grade A urban logistics space is particularly strong.

“There is a clear requirement across Worcestershire and the wider West Midlands for strategically-located accommodation that meets the needs of a broad range of occupiers.

“Aurora Park will provide high-specification units in an established commercial location with excellent connectivity.”

Ross Blair, senior managing director at Hines, added: “Our partnership with Chancerygate is approaching its eighth year and during this time we have developed numerous urban servicing facilities in key regional locations across the UK, delivering over one million sq ft of workspace across eight schemes and we are actively looking to grow our pipeline this year.”

In the UK, Chancerygate currently has around 2.2m sq ft of urban logistics space under construction or ready for development across 15 sites ranging from Leeds to Croydon. Just last month, it acquired the 825,000 sq ft World Freight Terminal at Manchester Airport.

Joint agents for Aurora Park are M1 Agency and John Truslove & Co.