ABP signals property intent with Humber deal
Associated British Ports has exchanged contracts to acquire the freehold of close to 230 acres of Enterprise Zone land known as Stallingborough Interchange, two miles from the Port of Immingham.
The 227.5-acre deal with North East Lincolnshire Council and other landowners is testament to ABP’s commitment to ramping up its property investment strategy, highlighted with the hiring of Rob Morton from CEG in September as lead asset manager.
The site is earmarked for commercial port opportunities including automotive, bulk warehousing, distribution and logistics uses, advanced manufacturing, as well as green energy initiatives.
Stallingborough Interchange benefits from outline planning consent secured by NELC for up to 1.3m sq ft of industrial and logistics development.
In light of the move towards electric vehicles in the car industry, ABP intends to submit plans for up to 80 acres of automotive logistics at the site.
Simon Bird, regional director of the Humber said: “This is an important milestone in the future growth of the Humber ports. It demonstrates the need for strategic investment in land to facilitate the continued growth of ABP and to maintain the Humber ports leading position in the UK, as well as significant investment in the region for jobs.
“As demand is expected to increase for energy generation, automotive storage, bulk warehousing, and storage and distribution uses our space constraints within our ports will increase. This additional land will ensure the delivery of state-of-the-art infrastructure, facilities, and technological innovation for new and existing customers.”
The site has been allocated in the local plan for employment use since 2013. Also referred to as Pioneer Business Park, it has traditionally been used as agricultural farmland. It is also connected to the Humber Link Road, the new port connection road built in 2021 that links Immingham and Grimsby.
The site is a strand of the South Humber Industrial Investment Programme, which has so far seen the Myenergi development and HETA facilities created on the site, with other opportunities in the pipeline.
Greg Lacey, head of property – Humber at ABP, added: “It’s always a challenge to bring forward a site of such significant scale and I’d like to personally thank NELC for all the investment in time and costs to get it to this stage. We now pick up the baton to bring to fruition our shared ambition to create a major UK port logistics development.
“This is a unique opportunity, assembled by ABP working collaboratively with NELC and three other landowners. The site is the largest development land parcel in such proximity to the ports, and of significant scale versus wider opportunities in the Yorkshire region. It is unlikely any opportunity of the same size will be coming to the market for some time.
“The sizeable investment we have made in this shows ABP is a key player in supporting the growth of commercial activities within the region.”
Contracts have been exchanged. Credit: ABP
Stallingborough Interchange sits next to the A180, two miles from the Port of Immingham and six miles from the Port of Grimsby. ABP said it will be key in future-proofing the continued growth of its commercial business on the Humber.
Damien Jaines-White, assistant director for regeneration at NELC, said: “We have worked incredibly hard to bring this sale forward, to drive the economic aspirations of our area.
“Our innovative South Humber Industrial Investment Programme has proven to be a real driver to attracting investment in North East Lincolnshire, in particular our award-winning ecological mitigation sites which have been cited as a key reason for developers choosing NEL as a place to locate. Our experienced Economic Development team are working closely with potential investors across all sectors.”
Addleshaw Goddard acted on behalf of ABP and Browne Jacobson represented NELC.
