The HSE has stepped up its preparations for the immediate and longer-term impact of Brexit on its procurement of medical supplies with an agreement to lease a new 4,645sq m (50,000sq ft) logistics facility at Northwest Logistics Park in Ballycoolin, Dublin 15.
The HSE has agreed to rent Unit 629 at the scheme from the logistics division of developer Michael Cotter’s Park Developments on a 20-year lease incorporating a break option in year 15. It is understood the State will pay in the region of €475,000 per annum for the facility.
The property had been offered for sale alternatively at a price of €8.6 million in advance of its completion by joint agents Savills and CBRE. A spokesman for the agents declined to comment when asked to confirm the details of the letting.
The HSE meanwhile had not responded to questions in relation to its intended use of the facility prior to the publication of this article. As such, it remains unclear if the medical supplies to be stored at the Northwest Logistics Park facility will include medicines.
Supply chain
While a spokesman for the Irish Pharmacy Union told the Irish Times last week that it had received assurances that there are several months’ supplies of medicines in the supply chain in Ireland, the country is and will continue to be heavily-reliant on the UK for sourcing the majority of these until such time as alternative arrangements are made. As it stands, between 60 and 70 per cent of the 4,000 medicines marketed in Ireland either come from, or transit through the UK.
Unit 629 was completed in June of this year as part of the first phase of a wider €35 million logistics development Park Developments is in the process of delivering at the Ballycoolin scheme.
The company has planning permissions in place for six additional logistics facilities at Northwest Logistics Park comprising 21,650sq m (233,000sq ft) with unit sizes ranging from 1,394sq m (15,000 sq ft) up to 7,254sq m (78,000sq ft).
The developer has also lodged planning applications for 9,044sq m (97,350sq ft) and 5,400sq m (59,400sq ft) hi-bay logistics facilities to bolster the range of unit sizes on offer at the scheme. A decision to grant planning permission has just been received from Fingal County Council in the case of the 9,044sq m facility.
Having agreed the pre-let of Unit 629, Park Developments has now commenced construction on Unit 633 Northwest Logistics Park which comprises 3,716sq m (40,000sq ft) including 370sq m (4,000sq ft) of offices. The proposed facility will have a clear internal height of 15m, four loading bays, two automated and insulated sectional doors of 5m in height and 4m width alongside a yard depth of 35m.
Remaining sites
Unit 633 is expected to be ready for occupation in the first quarter of 2020. The facility will be available to lease through joint agents Savills and CBRE at an annual rent of €390,000 (exclusive of VAT) or to purchase.
Buildings on the remaining sites with planning permission can be provided to occupiers’ requirements for sale or lease, while alternatively buildings of up to 50,000sq m (538,195sq ft) can be provided on a design-and-build basis.
Quite apart from Northwest Logistics Park, Park Developments has been involved in the delivery of space at numerous of Dublin’s most successful logistics schemes for over 30 years. Its developments to date include the M50 Business Park in Ballymount which incorporates Fashion City, Ireland’s only dedicated fashion wholesale destination. Other recent developments include Northwest Business Park, Ballycoolin, Dublin 15 and Northern Cross Business Park, North Road, Dublin 11 where over 1.4 million square feet of logistics space has been developed.
Northwest Logistics Park is one of Dublin’s premier and most established logistics locations. The park is within 200m of the N2/N3 link road which provides dual carriageway access to the N2 (J3) and N3 (J2) routes, and J5 and J6 on the M50 which provides motorway access to all of the main arterial routes from Dublin, to Dublin International Airport and the Port Tunnel.
