£2B Segro Deal Powers West Midlands Shed/Tech Push

Segro, the shed developer, has signed a £2B partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority to deliver around 13.5M SF of new floorspace over 10 years.

The deal comes almost exactly a year after the authority — chaired by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street — signed a £4B partnership with Legal & General.

Segro aims to build sustainable warehouse space on brownfield sites across the West Midlands by the end of 2033, focused on tech-enabled logistics facilities as well as purpose-built space for research and development.

The investment will be focused on a mix of warehousing types across the region. This includes the development of Segro Park Coventry, a 450-acre site that has planning permission for the construction of 3.7M SF of industrial buildings and warehouses. 

To coincide with becoming a strategic partner of the WMCA, Segro has also announced it is relocating its national logistics business unit to Coventry city centre.

It also plans to develop approximately 2,700 affordable, easy-to-use and easy-to-access electric vehicle charging points at its developments across the region.

In May 2022 Legal & General signed up for a £4B, seven-year brownfield investment package with the West Midlands Combined Authority. The move — the first of its kind in the UK — was intended to be a new pathway for investors as politicians deploy private capital to meet levelling-up commitments. L&G said it “fully expects this to be an exemplar of what can be achieved with the right mix of devolution and determination”. 

The Segro deal comes on the back of the WMCA securing a Deeper Devolution Deal with central government in March. 

“There is a long-term shortage of modern, sustainable industrial employment space in the West Midlands," Segro CEO David Sleath said. "By working closely with the West Midlands Combined Authority we can identify and unlock brownfield sites for development and deliver critical infrastructure that serves the whole of the UK.”