Brakes takes 207,000 sq ft industrial pre-let in Reading
Lambert Smith Hampton and Haslams have jointly completed a 207,000 sq ft industrial pre-let at the Suttons Business Park in Reading, which the firms say is the largest deal of its type ever done in Reading.
Standard Life Investments is to develop a new storage and distribution warehouse, on the site of the old Suttons Seeds building (more recently the home of Jacobs engineering), for foodservice company Brakes Group, which has signed a 25-year lease. Planning has been granted and development started last week, with completion expected for the end of March 2012.
Philip Hunter, associate director in LSH’s Reading office, says the deal represents more than 60% of the total industrial space transacted in Reading during the whole of 2010. “Securing the deal on a pre-let basis is an indication of the lack of available units above 200,000 sq ft in the Thames Valley, and indeed nationally,” he added, noting that this shortage was a “very real challenge” to large industrial occupiers seeking new premises.
