Salmon Property has formed a joint venture with US real estate investment management business Westbrook Partners to invest £100m in the industrial and logistics sector.

The JV, which intends to place a greater focus on ESG credentials as part of its strategy, plans to embark on a major speculative development drive across the UK and is targeting investment opportunities where it can add value.

It has secured its first acquisition, a four-acre site at Horley in the north Gatwick area, which it bought from Saga Group for around £10m and where it plans to build an 84,000 sq ft logistics warehouse.
The proposed project will have a GDV of at least £30m and is expected to be completed in the final quarter of next year.

The JV is also close to securing further sites.

Paul Stoodley, chief executive of Salmon Property, said: “The joint venture will see two experienced partners with strong track records in the logistics warehousing and multi-let industrial sector working together to create a substantial development pipeline. Having a single source of speculative funding puts us in a strong position in the current highly competitive development market. This is a great opportunity to continue focusing on prime speculative warehouse developments in our core areas. The supply/demand imbalance remains strong in these prime areas, and we see continued rental growth.”

Tudor Real Estate advised on the formation of the JV and Rapleys advised on the site purchase. Avison Young │UK Young will advise on and monitor the developments from an ESG perspective.