UK Land Estates to invest £35m in North East industrial sector

Main contractor Winvic has completed work on the 400,000 sq ft sustainability-led industrial project, delivered by Partners Group and Citivale.

The need for society to be connected and the rapid adoption of AI are driving the requirement for more and better digital infrastructure, including data centres, according to Thomas Pearson, partner at JMW.

The 75,000 sq ft County Durham facility will be one of Europe’s most advanced, processing up to 10,500t of clinical and hazardous waste each year before transforming it into a low-carbon heat source for local businesses. 

Knight Frank’s latest Logic: North East report shows that transactions of industrial units of more than 50,000 sq ft reached a total of 1.4m sq ft in 2024, compared to 1.2m in 2023. 

The £2m development on brownfield land in County Durham has been designed and project managed by architect Building Design Northern.

Naylors Gavin Black are joint agents with Knight Frank on the Gateshead new-build industrial unit owned by UK Land Estates. 

Janet Young will support the management of more than 20m sq ft of commercial space across the North of England. 

Overall, the take-up of industrial space in the North East in 2024 was slightly higher than 2023 by approximately 200,000 sq ft. The number of transactions was up, although the size of the space taken was often smaller.

Town End Farm can now progress with its plans for three industrial units on the southern part of the Sunderland site, which will look to support the automotive industry in the North East.