Aston41, Aesop Business Park, Aesop Road, Aston Clinton, Aylesbury
Aston41 is a new production/warehouse scheme situated 4 miles south-east of Aylesbury, Bucks, with outline planning consent granted in 2012 for up to 240,000 sq ft of B2/B8 uses with ancillary B1(a) offices and B1(c) light industry, offering direct access to the A41 dual carriageway via College Road North and fast access to the M25 at junction 20 in just 16 minutes.
The scheme is situated on a highly prominent, self-contained site fronting the A41, and forms part of a flagship 1.5m sq ft employment development site on land extending to over 130 acres to the east of College Road North. A major element of the development is a 1 billion litre, zero carbon milk processing facility, completed by Arla Foods (UK) in 2013 and now fully operational.
In 2016, the land was sold by Blakelands LLP to W Lamb Ltd, a local investor / developer with substantial property holdings in and around the home counties. Westhall Estates, by virtue of its considerable historic knowledge and understanding of the scheme, was retained as Development Manager partner to W Lamb and co-ordinates the delivery of the whole scheme, including submission of reserved matters planning applications, detailed negotiation of terms with occupiers and procurement of phases of industrial / warehouse units.
The scheme has been delivered in three phases as follows:
Phase 1: A speculative, self-contained 40,225 sq ft (GEA) production / warehouse unit with 8.5m minimum internal eaves height, 10% first floor open plan office content, 56m deep secure yard and 80 car parking spaces. Construction commenced in May 2017 and was sold to Mercedes-Benz Retail Group UK Limited in December 2017 with Practical Completion occurring in January 2018. The project was delivered on time and on budget by Parkway Construction (MK) Ltd.
Phase 2: A 4.2 acre (net) serviced plot was sold to Lookers plc for a proposed Jaguar LandRover car dealership in November 2018 following grant of a new detailed planning permission, and construction commenced in January 2019, with the dealership due to open in mid-November 2019.
Phase 3: A speculative development of 5 production / warehouse units ranging between 13,896 sq ft and 54,639 sq ft, each with 10% first floor office content, yards, car parking and landscaping. A 2.65 acre (net) serviced plot was unconditionally presold to Mercedes-Benz in September 2018 prior to commencemnt of construction for a 500-space car storage compound for their adjoining service centre. The construction of the remaining 3 units commenced in September 2018 with Practical Completion being achieved in February 2020. Unit 5 (19,332 sq ft) was presold to Dutytown, a local investor and unit 4 (13,896 sq ft) was sold to Brand Factory, an owner occupier, in March 2020. The scheme reached a highly satisfactory conclusion with the letting of unit 3 (54,639 sq ft) on a 10 year lease to Hexatronic UK Ltd, the UK subsidiary of Swedish fibre-optic manufacturer Hexatronic Group in October and subsequent investment sale of the unit and transfer of all common parts to CHB Enterprises Limited in December 2020.
The scheme website is available to view at: www.aston41.com
