A new UK logistics real estate investment venture between Pictet Alternative Advisors and Marchmont Investment Management has acquired a £30m (€33.4m) development site.

The partnership focussed on UK last-mile logistics has bought the Virgin Atlantic Airways training centre in Crawley situated on a in a sale deal.

The latest deal is the fifth acquisition for the last-mile logistics venture which plans to invest £200m in urban industrial assets throughout London and the south-east of England.

The site will be redeveloped to provide up to 225,000sqft of logistics space.

Charlie Baigler, head of acquisitions, real estate at Pictet Alternative Advisors, said: “We believe there is significant opportunity for value creation in the UK urban logistics and industrial space, despite the economic headwinds.

The demand drivers, which are principally fuelled by e-commerce penetration, combined with the dwindling supply, particularly in the south-east should maintain upward pressure on rents. To successfully execute this strategy, a high quality, sector specialist JV partner is needed, which is exactly what we have with Marchmont.”

Cam Fraser, director at Marchmont, said: “We are delighted to have completed on the purchase of this prime development opportunity as part of our strategic drive with Pictet Alternative Advisors to build a £200m+ portfolio of core UK logistics assets. We see Crawley as a key South East market with an under-supply of Grade A quality mid-box units.”

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