Chertsey Business Park is a development of warehouse and industrial units that provided high-quality commercial property to the region. The 2.1-acre site was purchased in August 2018 with a forward funding sale and development management agreement secured to Runnymede Council on a subject to planning basis.
Situated on Hanworth Lane, Chertsey’s most prominent industrial area, the development offered easy access to the M25 and M3 making it the perfect location to serve London, Surrey and the south of England.
Chancerygate’s in-house development and project management teams overcame numerous challenges throughout the planning and construction phases.
Examples include:
• The existing buildings on site had to be demolished and all asbestos removed with minimal disturbance to the surrounding neighbours which included residential occupiers.
• The site was logistically challenging with a single shared access road and surrounded by existing commercial and residential properties. A large housing development was also under construction immediately to the east. Both project teams developed a good working relationship, which was essential to the successful delivery of both schemes being on site at the same time.
• A ‘hot spot’ of contamination was discovered during the demolition works and Environment Agency approval had to be secured for the remediation method and implemented. This was achieved with minimal impact to the development programme.
• The ground conditions were poor and the water table was very high, so innovative ground improvement techniques had to be used to enable the construction of the buildings.
• There were numerous services disconnections and diversions required to enable the demolition of the existing buildings plus existing mains services to work around during the development.
• The scheme was delivered on programme and on budget despite the challenges of working through the Covid-19 pandemic and with social distancing and pressures on materials and the supply chain.
Unit disposals:
• 75% of the units were let 6 months post practical completion to a variety of local occupiers: Storage Geeks (30-year lease), KM Products Europe Ltd, Ultra International UK Ltd, Haulystic Ltd, Marathon Bags Ltd, Cooking Marvellous Ltd.
• Highest headline rents achieved in the area and moved on 7% in first 6 months post PC.
• To date, only 3 units remain available, of which one is currently under offer.
• JLL and Carter Jonas are the agents on this scheme.
Specification (unit 2)