Leeds-based Citivale secures £5.15m Scottish Deal

The joint venture between Leeds-based Citivale, the property development and asset management company, and developer Peveril Securities has bought a business park with further development land in Edinburgh for £5.15m.

Located on Bankhead Crossway South on the western side of Edinburgh, 7Hills Business Park already comprises 40,372 sq ft of quality modern industrial and hybrid unit space.

However, the the joint venture is planning to build a further 82,000 sq ft of high quality, multi-let industrial units on the park. Space in the units will range from 5,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft, depending on the needs of occupiers.

The joint venture has also announced the letting of one of the three existing units to Amazon Prime. Amazon is taking a 9,398 sq ft distribution warehouse with offices.

James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of Citivale, explained: “This is a significant acquisition for Citivale and Peveril Securities. 7Hills, named after the seven hills that surround Edinburgh, is a superbly well-located business park with huge potential.

“The Amazon Prime letting is a resounding endorsement of 7Hills and confirms the demand in the Edinburgh city region for top quality industrial space. It also gives us the confidence to potentially develop further industrial units, which would be some of the first to be built in Edinburgh since the downturn.”

Occupiers of the other two existing units at 7Hills include BT.

Mr Appleton-Metcalfe added: “7Hills fits in perfectly with Citivale’s ethos of buying well-located assets and using our skills and knowledge to reposition them through comprehensive refurbishment and further development.

“We strongly believe that the lack of availability of quality industrial space and development land in west Edinburgh will make 7Hills extremely popular with potential occupiers. It is already attracting serious interest.”

Other occupiers in the immediate vicinity include Edinburgh Audi, Royal Mail, Screwfix, Topps Tiles, Howden’s, City Electrical Factors, BT, JCB and Autoglass.

Mr Appleton-Metcalfe concluded: “This is our first joint venture with Peveril Securities, who have an established background in the commercial property market with a track record of delivering large-scale developments across the country.

“Citivale already has a presence in Scotland, following our acquisition of the Dixon Blazes Industrial Estate from CBRE Global Investors for £4.14m in conjunction with Lumina Real Estate Capital.”

Chris Kirkland of Peveril Securities also said: “We are delighted to be working with Citivale. We believe our combined expertise and knowledge of the Scottish commercial property market will ensure that 7Hills will become a premier business park, with first-class facilities and quality occupiers.

“This is our third investment in Edinburgh. We are currently on site at St Andrew’s Square in a joint venture with Standard life and we recently submitted a planning application for a mixed-use hotel and student accommodation development at King’s Stables Road.”

The marketing agents for 7Hills Business Park are the Edinburgh offices of Ryden and Burns & Shaw.