A shortage of space for medium sized operations in Avonmouth has meant that two out of the three units to be speculatively developed by developer St Modwen at its Access 18 scheme have already been let.

Opus Land has started work on the refurbishment of the 360,000 sq ft former MFI factory site on Teesside.

RGD Thomas, a private Swansea investor, has paid £4m to buy the 141,117 sq ft former Panasonic Unit at Baglan Moors, Port Talbot, South Wales.

Birmingham-based Coltham Developments has paid almost £10m to buy Britvic Soft Drinks’ warehouse complex at Tamworth’s Centurion Park which it intends to redevelop to provide a 288,000 sq ft distribution centre.

UK rents increased by 2.1 per cent in the year to March 2007, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest 50 Centres Report.

Stoford has secured a £40million “quick turnaround” to develop more than 625,000 sq ft of warehousing and distribution facilities on 36 acres of prime land in the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

SG Cuttings has taken Quorum’s 36,000 sq ft warehouse at the Europa Trading Estate in Kearsley, near Bolton, Lancashire on a 10 year lease at £3.

Fresh fish and seafood products supplier Cumbrian Holdings has taken a 125,087 sq ft unit at Grantside’s Foxcover Distribution Park in Seaham, County Durham.

The level of new speculatively built logistics space available in units over 100,000 sq ft has continued to increase in 2007 according to King Sturge’s latest floor space report.

Distribution warehouse roofs could be a valuable source of power in the future according to Tim Western of King Sturge.