High-tech 117,000 sqft warehouse further strengthens west London’s connectivity and capability
abrdn’s AIPUT fund (Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust) has today announced the completion of the second and final phase of construction of its state-of-the-art dnata City East warehouse campus, located opposite Heathrow’s Cargo Terminal. The completed 360,000 sq ft warehouse campus significantly strengthens the nation’s critical logistics infrastructure, ensuring high value time-critical products are moved more quickly, safely and sustainably from this gateway location.
Each phase of dnata City East has been specifically designed to meet the operational requirements of dnata, the largest independent cargo-handler serving Heathrow. The campus represents both the largest off-airport cargo handling operation at Heathrow Airport and one of the largest pre-lets in west London. The earlier 242,000 sq ft warehouse building – also built by AIPUT and pre-let to dnata – has been operational since late 2019, handling import and export throughput for Virgin Atlantic Cargo and Delta Cargo at Heathrow.
Occupier demand for the very best sustainable industrial space in gateway locations throughout Greater London has accellerated throughout 2021 and early 2022, driven by the Covid recovery but also in response to Brexit and global supply chain issues. West London is virtually fully occupied, with vacancy levels of Grade A industrial space in this area at historic low levels of less than 3%.
The lead contractor for the Phase 2 warehouse was specialist industrial and logistics constructor, McLaren Group, reporting to project manager, Avison Young. Throughout its design and construction, the building has incorporated the latest carbon reduction techniques, helping to future-proof both the operational and commercial value of the asset and to positively benefit the environment, local communities and the heath and wellbeing of dnata’s staff. Recycled and low-carbon materials have been widely used, together with the installation of solar PV panels, air-source heat pumps and electric vehicle charging points. This specification has already set new quality standards in the area, as well as achieving a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ environmental rating.
Edward Amery, Head of UK Logistics at abrdn, commented: “The completion of AIPUT’s dnata City East marks the culmination of a four-year project to deliver a significant milestone in our strategy to drive the growth of AIPUT’s market-leading portfolio of prime industrial assets. dnata City East sets a new quality benchmark for industrial property investment, representing one of the UK’s very best critical logistics infrastructure assets.
“We are proud that this new ‘centre of excellence’ will play a vital, long-term role in strengthening the UK’s supply chain resilience and make a positive impact at a local level for the environment and for communities.”
Alex Doisneau, Managing Director, dnata (UK) Limited, commented: “The completion of Phase II of dnata City East marks a major step forward in our successful ongoing relationship with AIPUT, which has delivered a world-leading air cargo warehouse destination at the UK’s premier gateway airport.
“These two new state-of-the-art facilities serve to support and enhance our customer and operational needs in a constantly changing environment.”
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Notes to editors
About AIPUT
- abrdn’s’ Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust (AIPUT) is a market-leading expert long-term investor specialising in industrial property in markets with high barriers to entry and high-consuming populations. AIPUT is a specialist industrial fund for expert institutional investors, with a life until 2036. The fund aims to deliver a positive ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance impact from undertaking responsible investment activity throughout its portfolio.
- The fund, which marked its 17-year anniversary in March 2022, manages a prime portfolio of properties providing high-quality and customised warehouse and logistics space and services:
- Over £1 Billion assets under management (@ March 2022)
- 22 assets, amounting to over 2.5m sq ft, spread over 200 acres
- 2.3m sq ft of assets are located at west London/Heathrow, making AIPUT one of the largest landlords in the area, serving the evolving needs of local businesses and increasingly the 7 million people that live and work in the area, with the ultimate objective to shape a thriving and resilient economic ecosystem that everyone can benefit from and enjoy
- 80% of the portfolio’s assets are located within Greater London (within the M25) and 20% elsewhere in the southeast
- Assets at London’s three major international airports: Heathrow (92%), Gatwick (6%) and Stansted (2%)
- Clients and investors – pension funds & expert institutional investors
- More information can be found at AIPUT’s dedicated website: www.aiput.co.uk
About abrdn
At abrdn, we enable our clients to plan, save and invest for their futures.
We structure our business into three areas – and together they reflect our focus on enabling our clients to be better investors:
- Investments: We work with clients to create solutions across asset classes, regions and markets globally – combining multi-layered research and market insights with technology and diverse thinking.
- Adviser: We offer market-leading platform technology and tools that enable UK wealth managers and financial advisers to create more opportunity for their business and their clients.
- Personal: We help people throughout the UK plan for their financial futures – through our financial planning business and our digital investing services.
Across our investments, adviser and personal businesses we manage and administer £542 billion of assets for our clients, and abrdn plc has over 1 million shareholders. (Figures as at 31 December 2021)
Our investments are built on an insight strength that comes from multi-layered research and a large global footprint. Our teams collaborate across multiple capabilities, to create forward-thinking solutions that aim to meet our clients’ needs and deliver more sustainable outcomes. Our investments business manages £464 billion on behalf of individuals, governments, pension funds, insurers, companies, charities and foundations (as at 31 December 2021) – with support and expertise from 800 investment specialists in over 30 locations.
abrdn is the single global brand for all areas of our business. In July 2021 our plc listing became abrdn plc. In September our investments business, formerly Aberdeen Standard Investments, became abrdn.
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