February 2022

The joint venture company behind Unity, the 650-acre (263-ha) mixed use development in South Yorkshire, has exchanged conditional contracts with Aver Property Limited Partnership for the development and sale of over 565,000 sq ft of distribution space.

Waystone Hargreaves Land LLP will deliver two units comprising of 191,000 sq ft and 375,000 sq ft on plots of 10 acres (4 ha) and 19 acres (8 ha). Located immediately to the east of Doncaster, Unity is one of the largest regeneration schemes within the Yorkshire region.

The new units will be located on Unity Connect, the dedicated employment area of the scheme, which is strategically located immediately adjacent to junction 5 of the M18 motorway.

Unity Connect already has outline planning permission for industrial and logistics space and forms part of a wider planning permission for 2 million sq ft of commercial space and 3,100 homes across the Unity development site.

This latest announcement follows the completion of the sale of a 79-acre (32-ha) site for the development of a regional logistics hub to a national retailer and represents a further acceleration of the Unity project.

David Anderson, director at Waystone Hargreaves LLP, said: “This is another significant vote of confidence in Unity and brings further inward investment to this part of South Yorkshire. Unity is situated in a prime strategic location and is rapidly building momentum across several zones.

“In a market characterised by a limited supply of industrial units, this transaction will deliver much-needed accommodation for occupiers looking for high quality, well connected industrial space in close proximity to the motorway network and we look forward to the development getting underway.”

The two latest transactions are conditional upon the grant of detailed planning permission and are expected to become unconditional before the end of 2022, with completion anticipated within 12 months of commencement of construction.

Aver Property is a joint venture between Ergo Real Estate and NFU Mutual. Founded in 2019, Ergo is a UK asset management and investment company operating in the real estate sector.

Martin Jepson, founding partner of Ergo Real Estate, said: “We are delighted to be working with Waystone and Hargreaves Land on this impressive scheme which adds another strategic development to our growing logistics platform.”