abrdn’s AIPUT fund has submitted plans for the first renovation project to be financed by its special £350 million sustainability-linked credit arrangement with Wells Fargo Bank.
AIPUT (Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust) has applied to the London Borough of Hounslow to renovate two neighbouring warehouse buildings at its London Heathrow Radius Park campus.
The scheme, to be marketed as RP6, will involve be stripping both buildings back to the steel frame and recladding them to form one building of 67,000 sq ft.
AIPUT expects to have a pre-let in place by the end of the planning process for the speculative scheme.
The project has been designed to achieve carbon neutrality, both in terms of embedded carbon and the site’s operational performance.
By retaining the concrete floor slab and the majority of structural steelwork, the project aims to secure a highly-positive Whole Life Carbon assessment.
Building materials will, wherever possible, be locally sourced using maximised recycled and recyclable content, aiming for zero landfill. Efficient and sustainable heating and cooling systems will be incorporated, together with roof-top solar panels, designed to reduce energy costs by at least 10 per cent, compared to the market standard. Excess power generated will be exported to the grid.
The new building is expected to comfortably achieve EPC A and a minimum BREEAM Excellent. AIPUT is to assess the feasibility of a ‘smart grid’ installation which could be progressively rolled out across the fund’s portfolio of airport-focused logistics locations throughout London.
AIPUT fund manager, Nick Smith, said: “As a market leader in critical airport logistics supply chain infrastructure, it is both essential and always motivating, to keep pushing the responsible investment envelope to benefit a wide range of stakeholders.
“Our proposed investment in this renovation project will create a market-leading warehouse facility to match rising occupier demand, whilst setting a new sustainable design bar for others to follow.
“We are focused on deploying this facility, combined with abrdn’s market leading investment expertise and operating platform, to execute our responsible investment strategy at both scale and pace, forming a critical pathway for AIPUT to achieve its decarbonisation objectives. The Radius Park project will deliver a key milestone on our strategic pathway to net zero.”
AIPUT’s principal advisers on the scheme are PRC Planning and Northland.
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