Aberdeen Standard Investments has been granted planning permission from Slough Borough Council for a warehouse unit directly across the M25 from Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
The development of the site, acquired through the asset manager’s AIPUT fund (Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust), will see a vacant brownfield site at Blackthorne Point industrial estate in Poyle transformed into a high-quality speculative-build industrial warehouse.
The warehouse, named Black Arrow, will be a flexible industrial warehouse unit supporting B1c, B2 and B8 uses, similar in proportion to an existing planning consent granted in 2017.
However, the building will incorporate a number of new environmental initiatives – including air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels – delivering a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions over building regulation requirements and the achievement of a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating. AIPUT’s Carbon Strategy requires the fund to achieve carbon neutrality across its portfolio by 2025.
The Black Arrow development follows swiftly on the heels of several key announcements by AIPUT at Blackthorne Point during 2019, following the refurbishment of several existing units.
Current tenants at the 15,600 sq m facility include UPS, Horizon International and C. H. Robinson. The delivery of additional high quality warehousing strongly positions Blackthorne Point (and the wider Poyle Trading Estate location) to benefit significantly from the expected future expansion of Heathrow Airport and the growth of its air cargo service, which the airport’s owners project to reach at least three million tonnes per year by 2040.
