Martin’s Properties has acquired the freehold interest in Nicholson House, Lime Kiln Close, Parkway, Bristol from a UK Fund, to add to its growing self-storage pipeline.
Martin’s Properties are creating and funding a new self storage business, which acquires sites, secures planning, develops and operates new purpose-built facilities across the South and South West of England.
Located on a 1-acre site in north Bristol, the property currently houses a vacant 15,444 sq ft office building. Martin’s Properties plans to redevelop the site to provide a brand-new self-storage facility to serve the surrounding area.
Prominently positioned, the site is located on a roundabout in an established and expanding commercial location, just five minutes' walk from Bristol Parkway mainline train station. The site benefits from proximity to a new Aldi store, Premier Inn hotel, Sainsbury’s foodstore and retail park. Nearby, a 330-bed student accommodation scheme is currently being developed, along with 1,400 further homes within 0.5 miles of the site.
In addition, Martin’s Properties is looking for a number of new 1-2 acre sites in the South and South West of England with key target locations including Bath, Dorchester, Southampton, Taunton, Aylesbury, Banbury, Trowbridge and Yeovil.
Martin’s Properties has identified self-storage as a strong growth sector with strong fundamentals, which have been accelerated by consumer trends such as home working, upsizing and downsizing, and space creation. With modern house sizes reducing and a need for local businesses along side, there is increasing demand for easily accessible self storage.
Graham Gunn, Head of Operations – Self Storage at Martin’s Properties, comments: “This is an exciting new acquisition of a prominent site in a mature and expanding location with excellent transport links and passing traffic, making it a highly strategic site to provide for self-storage demand. We already have other sites underway, with the first site in Didcot forecast to complete in 2026. We are seeking to acquire similar prominent 1-2 acre sites across the South and South West of England.”
Richard Bourne, CEO at Martin’s Properties, comments: “This latest acquisition adds to our pipeline for the self-storage platform. We believe that we are creating an original and innovative portfolio of purpose-built, tech-driven, secure, easy-to-access, sustainable units which will offer the market something different in this fast growing sector. We look forward to sharing more on this in due course. As a fully owned subsidiary of Martin’s Properties, it demonstrates our ability to recognise new trends, shape new developments and deploy capital quickly for the right opportunities - leveraging our in-house investment, development, asset management, planning and operational expertise.”
The Martin’s Properties portfolio includes a £250m prime Chelsea mixed use investment portfolio and a £115 million regional investment portfolio, with a focus on retail warehouse and industrial estates across the South of England, as well as a multi-sector portfolio in Oxfordshire. All assets in the portfolio are in prime or growing locations which capitalise on occupational supply/demand imbalance and continued inward investment into the local area and economy.
Martin’s Properties is a dynamic family-owned business with assets of approximately £400m. The team’s depth of expertise across investment, asset management, finance, development and operations spans many sectors and covers the whole lifecycle of buildings and real estate. As a responsible investor, Martin’s Properties creates and manages sustainable buildings that positively impact local communities, businesses and stakeholders, delivering both strong returns and exemplary customer service.
Hartnell Taylor Cook acted for Martin’s Properties and Sayner Real Estate acted for the vendor.