PLP completes Amazon warehouse in Knowsley

The 850,000 sq ft fulfilment centre off Moss Lane was built by Winvic Construction for the developer, a joint venture between Macquarie Capital, Peel Group, and Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Building the shed has been a four-year project, with PLP acquiring the 37-acre site at Knowsley Business Park in 2018.

Now known as PLP Knowsley, the site’s leasing agents are JLL and B8RE. The recently finished warehouse was designed by Aew Architects and pre-let to Amazon last year.

In addition to the warehouse in Knowsley, PLP has also completed the construction of a 2m sq ft fulfilment centre for Amazon in Leeds.

Both of the completed Amazon products are owned by UKLV1, an investment vehicle that features Ivanhoé Cambridge as the majority investor. Peel L&P, Macquarie Asset Management, and PLP senior management are also shareholders.

UKLV1’s portfolio currently boasts 8.7m sq ft of logistics assets.

A second investment vehicle, UKLV2, has since been launched with a capacity to invest more than £750m in developing and managing logistics projects.

When both UKLV1 and UKLV2 are fully deployed, PLP will have more than £2.5bn in assets under management.

Referring to the Knowsley and L Amazon fulfilment centres, PLP development director Hugh Chesterton said: “We are extremely pleased to have concluded the development and regeneration of these two landmark employment-generating projects.

“Both pre-let developments support PLP’s conviction that well located, urban sites are where modern logistics operations need to be.”

Richard Saul, head of asset management for the UK at Ivanhoé Cambridge, said that the warehouses will “set new standards in terms of ESG” for logistics facilities in the country. He mentioned the 100% photovoltaic roof cover at the Leeds building as an example.

Saul said: “Alongside the success of delivering both of these exemplar developments we are delighted that such large developments will bring tangible benefit to the communities in which they are situated.”