Tritax Symmetry bags Ocado for Bicester logistics hub
Tritax’s logistics development arm Tritax Symmetry has secured Ocado Retail as the tenant for a 163,664 sq ft logistics facility at Symmetry Park in Bicester.
Ocado will take up unit B on a 20-year lease. Once operational in 2022, the location will be used to bolster its distribution capabilities across Oxfordshire as its online grocery customer base grows.
The agreement will create around 900 jobs and is estimated to result in a £50m boost for the local economy.
Tritax’s logistics development arm Tritax Symmetry has secured Ocado Retail as the tenant for a 163,664 sq ft logistics facility at Symmetry Park in Bicester.
Ocado will take up unit B on a 20-year lease. Once operational in 2022, the location will be used to bolster its distribution capabilities across Oxfordshire as its online grocery customer base grows.
The agreement will create around 900 jobs and is estimated to result in a £50m boost for the local economy.
The property was the last vacant, speculatively developed logistics facility in Tritax Symmetry’s portfolio.
Bicester’s Symmetry Park measures 53 acres and is also home to Bentley Designs (88,000 sq ft), Medline Services (110,000 sq ft) and DPD Group (60,000 sq ft), which is under construction and set to be completed in April 2021.
The park has planning consent on additional land, which can be built out either as one unit measuring around 270,000 sq ft, or as two smaller units each covering 170,000 and 90,000 sq ft, subject to tenant interest.
Tom Leeming, development director at Tritax Symmetry, said: “Ocado is a longstanding Tritax Big Box customer and this letting demonstrates the inherent value in being able to use our development platform to swiftly accommodate an existing customer’s evolving occupational requirements.
“As the significant growth in online retail continues, demand for prime, strategically located logistics facilities continues to strengthen across the UK. Local authorities, by consenting to logistics land use, can play an important role in helping to drive the regional economic recovery.”
The news comes after Tritax Symmetry announced the next phase of development at MA6NITUDE in Middlewich, Cheshire. Two warehouse and distribution facilities, each comprising 149,000 sq ft and 41,000 sq ft, will be built speculatively in Q1 next year.
DTRE and Savills are joint letting agents for the scheme. Gerald Eve represented Ocado.
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