The Client
St Modwen Developments

The Properties

Six high-quality warehouse units, (five at St Modwen Park, Stoke-on-Trent South, totalling 183,000 sq ft and one at St Modwen Park, Stoke-on-Trent Central, totalling 43,000 sq ft).

Both developments are strategically positioned in close proximity to the A500 (T) dual carriageway connecting to junction 15 (South) and 16 (North) of the M6.

The units comprise warehouse facilities to the ground floor, open plan office accommodation to the first floor, secure service yards, dedicated parking and loading areas 24-hour access, covered cycle shelters and electric vehicle charging.

The Brief

St Modwen Developments appointed Mounsey Chartered Surveyors to act on its behalf in the marketing of the six warehouse units after interviewing several local property advisors.

The brief was specific. St Modwen needed an agency with extensive local knowledge, plus proven experience, track record and sophistication when working with developers of their size and handling high-level enquiries.

They also required an agency that understood the occupational market just as much as the requirements of St Modwen as a major developer.

Challenges

At the time of bringing the warehouses to market, they were still in the process of being built. There was a need to promote the scheme within the local occupational market as available as leasehold only as there had previously been discussion regarding potential sales of the units which was definitely not a requirement of St Modwen at the point of our instruction.

The Covid-19 pandemic of course altered the landscape, not just by creating short-term challenges when facilitating physical site visits, but also in terms of the impact, it was having on some areas of the occupier market around finding the ‘right time’ to relocate.

The key to the success of the instruction was likely to be in the communication between St Modwen and us as agents.  We needed to communicate the confidence that we collectively had in the quality and delivery of the scheme.  This confidence was even more important due to national lockdowns and wider market uncertainty around Covid 19 and its effects.

The confidence in the quality of units and the delivery and timing of delivery was also a key message for St Modwen due to the scale to their pipeline of development planned in this area.

Our approach

• We brought the properties to market across our professional, local networks and proactively canvased interest through our established occupier relationships. As always, we sought to match the occupier requirements exactly to those of St Modwen’s and our vast local knowledge was fundamental to this.
• We prioritised all enquiries and maintained a dynamic approach to visit requests, accommodating every opportunity, even at short notice.
• We formed a strong agency team with a national to cover all bases, share knowledge swiftly and seamlessly and secure a good occupier mix for St Modwen.

The Results

• The buildings we all let either before or shortly after the schemes practical completion to a mix of national and local businesses.
• We achieved an excellent mix of local and national occupiers, with good strength of the covenant, market-leading rents and long lease periods.
• The success of the scheme enabled St Modwen to proceed confidently with further developments proposed and underway on both the South and Central sites, due for completion in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Client Comments

“Mounsey’s had a great profile, with a strong market presence and an excellent track record of success in similar property lettings.  They understood very quickly what we needed, and we felt they were a great fit.

We were delighted with the strong result that our agency team achieved at both developments.  Richard and his team have made a very important contribution to the success of these schemes. Their working knowledge of the local property market and occupiers within it was evident, we were very happy with the results.

We look forward to continuing to work with Mounsey Chartered Surveyors on our future schemes.”

Jake Shilston, Senior Development Manager at St Modwen Developments

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