Huge Royal Mail depot near Sheffield bought by investment firm for £13 million

The 151,000sq ft unit off Sheffield Road in Rotherham is currently being used by the Royal Mail Group Limited and is the largest and busiest Parcelforce depot in the UK, handling around 20,000 parcels per day.

It has been bought by InfraRed Capital Partners Limited, on behalf of the InfraRed Urban Logistics Income Fund, who completed the off-market sale for £13.3m.

The acquisition is the latest in the series of purchases for InfraRed, which targets high-quality urban logistics assets located within a 20-minute drive time of the UK’s top 10 city centres.

The firm said the fund was seeking to capitalise on the ‘growing demand and supply imbalance that exists in favour of owners of urban logistics assets in city fringe locations’, and which is anticipated to increase as e-commerce and urban decentralisation activities continue.

Dean Harrison, investment director at InfraRed Capital Partners, commented: “Located within a short drive of Sheffield city centre and benefitting from immediate access to the M1 motorway, the unit’s suitability for e-commerce driven occupiers has underpinned the investment rationale.

“We continue to see our urban logistics assets benefit from densification trends and the accelerating adoption of e-commerce among consumers, particularly in the wake of COVID-19.

“We will look to expand our urban logistic holdings in the UK and Western Europe throughout 2020 and beyond with substantial capital available for deployment.”

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