Sheffield-based builder and developer Henry Boot and Feldberg Capital announced the launch of Origin, a “mid-box industrial & logistics platform” seeded with a £100 million development portfolio.

Boot said that HBD, the group’s property investment and development arm, has formed the UK focused industrial and logistics (I&L) platform in joint venture (JV) with Feldberg Capital,  a specialist in rapidly scaling sustainability-focused real estate ventures in high growth sectors.

The Sheffield firm said that going forward, the partnership will draw on both HBD’s development pipeline as well as acquire sites from third parties for further pre-let and speculative I&L development.

For each project, development finance will be procured from an external lender. The intention, subject to market conditions, is to deliver £1 billion of high quality I&L schemes across the UK over the next seven years.

HBD has the right to co-invest in future projects on the same ownership split as the seed portfolio, whilst retaining the role of development manager.

“Origin is immediately well capitalised and will own and develop next generation, ESG compliant I&L assets, predominantly in the mid box market, across the UK,” said Boot.

“The venture will be seeded with an initial portfolio of three sites from HBD’s pipeline with a combined GDV of c.£100m (HBD share: £25m).

“HBD has a 25% share of the JV and Feldberg will hold a 75% share. HBD will be the development manager, receiving fees for doing so, and Felberg will act as investment manager.

“Both parties have the potential to share a promote fee based on the JV’s internal rate of return subject to certain hurdle rates.

“The three initial sites have the potential to deliver approximately c.450,000 sq ft of prime I&L space, with construction on each due to commence in H1 2025 for delivery from H2 2025. All developments will target market leading ESG credentials, including BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and an EPC ‘A’ rating.”

Tim Roberts, CEO at Henry Boot, commented: “The launch of this new industrial and logistics platform with Feldberg Capital is an important transaction for Henry Boot, allowing us to partner with a first-class international investor with the funds and ambition to invest alongside us into one of our key sectors. At the same time, it enables us to accelerate our own £1.3bn industrial and logistics pipeline and in turn recycle capital more efficiently. We now look forward to fulfilling our significant ambitions for Origin alongside the team at Feldberg.”