Landed estates business Bradford Estates has successfully increased the number of industrial estates in its property portfolio by 50 per cent following the completion of a strategic acquisition drive.

The business, led by Managing Director Alexander Newport, has purchased four new multi-let industrial estates totalling 150,000 sq ft, significantly enhancing its commercial property holdings in line with its objective for diversified growth and long-term investment strategy.

Bradford Estates set out to acquire new assets requiring hands on asset management and refurbishment, to align with its long-term investment growth strategy.

The largest acquisition is 76,000 sq ft of property at Wear Industrial Estate in Washington, Tyne and Wear, which includes 12 buildings, fully let to business occupants ranging from international recognised businesses to local small to medium sized enterprises.

Also in the North East, Bradford Estates has purchased two units totalling 30,000 sq ft at an estate on Kilburn Drive in Peterlee, County Durham, which is single let to a timber products manufacturer.

The landed estates business, which has a history dating from 1066, has purchased 15 units totalling 27,000 sq ft at Link 49, Boscombe Business Park, Severn Road, Avonmouth, close to the Prince of Wales Bridge on the outskirts of Bristol. Built in 2022, the units have three significant tenants in a local building contractor, cancer scanning equipment makers as well as a mobility scooter designer alongside other start-ups and SMEs.

The fourth acquisition is four units totalling 17,000 sq ft at 325 Bristol Road in Gloucester, with tenants from the automotive and engineering sectors.

The acquisitions build upon Bradford Estates' existing portfolio of eight institutional grade estates across England and Wales, which already totalled 230,000 sq ft and house occupiers including popular brands Screwfix, Halfords, Crown Paints, Euro Car Parts and Plumbase, as well as many regional and local industrial businesses.

The principal Bradford Estates asset is a 12,000-acre land holding on the Shropshire-Staffordshire borders used for regenerative farming, sustainable forestry, leisure, local housing and commercial use, including real estate investment and development.

Alexander Newport, Managing Director of Bradford Estates, said: "We are delighted to have completed this significant expansion of our Bradford Industrial portfolio, which represents a major milestone in our growth strategy. These acquisitions perfectly align with our approach of targeting properties which can be enhanced over time within strong local economies.

"Each of these new sites offers exciting asset management opportunities and an excellent spread of occupiers from diverse business sectors. As a historic land and property steward with our heritage going back nearly 1000 years, we are committed to applying our responsive management approach to generate positive improvements in these assets, optimising current performance and ensuring future resilience."

The acquisition process has been led by Chris Hodson, who joined Bradford Estates as Property Director earlier this year. Chris said: “We have a clear strategy to continue our investment in the multi-let industrial sector and these latest acquisitions into the Bradford Industrial portfolio each offer a diverse range of tenants and strong reversionary potential, aligning with our long-term objectives to deliver both sustainable income and value growth across the portfolio.

"These acquisitions represent an exciting new chapter for Bradford Estates. Each estate presented compelling 'value add' opportunities that match perfectly with our investment criteria.

“We are grateful for the support of our advisers including Womble Bond Dickinson, Weston Allison Wright, Panovista Asset Management, Fisher German, Metcalf Harland, Russell Property Consultants, AP Investment and The Acquisition Group.”

Bradford Estates has two elements to its commercial investments. Bradford Industrial is the multi-let industrial estates investment business which now includes these new acquisitions, whilst the on-estate Business Villages portfolio offers a diverse range of unique commercial properties to businesses operating in the local area.

On-estates surplus buildings continue to be converted into commercial units for local businesses under the Business Villages brand, with more than 200,000 sq ft in the current portfolio being used for workshops, storage, light industrial and retail uses. Each village has seen high-quality agricultural buildings converted into serviced, adaptable space with generous car parking at an affordable price point.

The main Bradford Estates land holding sits in an accessible location at the confluence of M54, A5 and A41, equidistant from both Wolverhampton and Telford and just 35 minutes' drive time from Birmingham.

Bradford Estates also has long-term plans for Weston, a mixed-use, net zero community near Junction 3 on the M54 Growth Corridor and less than a mile from Cosford train station. Subject to formal allocation as a strategic settlement and subsequent planning permission, Weston would deliver 4m sq ft of employment space, 3,000 mixed-tenure homes plus a science and innovation campus with in-principle interest from the University of Wolverhampton, a medical centre, schools and community buildings.