Segro sells industrial estate in London to Imperial College
Segro has sold its 10-acre industrial estate in London’s Park Royal to Imperial College London for £115 million. The University plans to drive the development of the WestTech Corridor, a new deep tech innovation ecosystem across West London, providing commercial science innovation facilities to start-ups.
“Imperial College London is investing in its ambitious vision for a new globally competitive deep tech innovation system in West London”, said Hugh Brady, President, Imperial. “The Imperial WestTech Corridor will act as a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation at a local, regional, and national level.”
Imperial is investing £150 million to buy and repurpose the Victoria Industrial Estate in Old Oak, close to the White City Innovation District and one of Imperial’s campuses. The site has been identified for future mixed-use development by Imperial’s strategic partners Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation and Ealing Council as part of regeneration plans for the area.
The flexible and affordable spaces will enable innovators to stay in London and scale up, providing facilities for prototyping, pilot manufacturing and advanced manufacturing in areas such as biotech, cleantech and medtech, Imperial said.
The estate, which Segro has owned since 2009, is currently 64% let and generates annual rental income of £3.2 million. The London-listed logistics REIT said it had recently stopped renting to tenants to pursue redevelopment of the site.
“Segro Park Victoria Road has performed very well for us over the past decade”, said Bonnie Minshull, Head of London, Segro. “This sale to a special purchaser, for the provision of commercial science and innovation facilities, allows us to reinvest the proceeds into our wider London portfolio.”
Imperial’s WestTech Corridor vision is “a welcome initiative from a world-leading institution, adding another powerful driver of demand to London’s primary industrial and logistics cluster, in which Segro owns almost 6 million sq ft of space,” Minshull added.
Imperial is a long-term investor, developer and operator in the West London area, already owns 7.5 acres and earlier this year secured planning permission for a major redevelopment of 2 million sq ft of mixed-use space. The College plans to expand its residential and science and innovation spaces further, creating student and staff accommodation as well as laboratory and research facilities.