A major Yorkshire logistics scheme is set for its biggest expansion yet as developers respond to a shortage of modern warehouse space across the UK.
Mountpark has secured planning consent for a 640,000 sq ft speculative logistics unit at Mountpark Ferrybridge, making it the company’s largest development of its kind in the UK.
The project forms part of the redevelopment of the former Coal Yard at Ferrybridge Power Station into a large-scale logistics and infrastructure hub.
It comes as speculative warehouse construction slows sharply across the UK, with higher building costs and tighter financing conditions limiting new development.
While overall warehouse availability has increased because more second-hand space has come onto the market, the supply of modern Grade A facilities is continuing to tighten.
Demand is also increasingly focused on large, energy-efficient warehouses with strong transport links and access to power.
More than half of the Mountpark Ferrybridge site has now been pre-let or pre-sold.
That includes a 65,800 sq ft pre-let to bakery business Warburtons, while a further 40 acres has been sold to a data centre developer.
A separate 40,000 sq ft speculative unit is also under offer and is due to complete later this year.
Brett Huxley, development director for Mountpark UK & Ireland, said: “The decision to develop Unit 3 at Mountpark Ferrybridge, our largest ever speculative development at 640,000 sq ft, reflects not only our commitment to the UK logistics market and the tightening development supply line, but also to delivering new life to this iconic Yorkshire site.”
He said Ferrybridge offered a number of features increasingly sought by occupiers, including access to power, strategic road links and an established labour pool.
“Ferrybridge benefits from a number of fundamentals occupiers are prioritising: certainty of delivery, power, connectivity to the national strategic road network and an established labour pool,” Mr Huxley said.
“It is ideally placed to support the continued growth of the North’s infrastructure economy and we have every confidence that it will become one of the UK’s leading logistics hubs.”
Infrastructure and enabling works for the new unit are already under way and are due to complete in August 2026.
Mountpark is expected to begin the main build in September, with practical completion targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027.
The warehouse will include 21-metre internal eaves, two 50-metre service yards and Grade A office accommodation.
It is also expected to offer up to 13MVA of power for occupiers with high energy requirements.
Mountpark is targeting BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification and an EPC A+ rating for the development.
The wider Ferrybridge site also has the potential to connect to rail, which the developer says could support occupiers seeking to reduce emissions from freight and logistics operations.
Located close to the junction of the M62 and A1(M), the scheme sits within one of the UK’s key freight corridors and is being positioned for logistics, infrastructure, advanced industrial and other large-scale occupiers.
The development comes at a time when modern logistics space remains in relatively short supply, particularly for larger speculative units in well-connected locations.