Panattoni, the global industrial developer, has appointed property agencies Knight Frank, Colliers, and Commercial Property Partners (CPP) to market its Wakefield 500 development in Castleford, West Yorkshire.

The project involves a speculative logistics facility situated on a 23-acre site within the Wakefield Europort estate, located adjacent to Junction 31 of the M62 motorway—a key east-west transit corridor linking Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds to the Humber ports.

Panattoni recently acquired the land from real estate investor Delin Property. Construction began in June, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of next year.

Iain McPhail, logistics and industrial property partner at Knight Frank’s Leeds office, explained: “This development comes at a time when supply of large-format logistics space remains severely constrained across the UK and specifically in the West Yorkshire region. Construction began in June, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of next year.

“This is a very exciting project for the whole team, as we have been heavily involved in this site for a number of years from its original conception and design stages. It will be very satisfying to see steels going up on this prime development."

The facility is planned with 56 dock leveller doors, eight level-access doors, cross-dock loading facilities, service yards up to 50 metres deep, 62 heavy goods vehicle (HGV) parking bays, 384 car spaces, and an electrical capacity of 2.5 megavolt-amperes (MVA).

Chris Brown, Development Director for Panattoni, states: “The property will be delivered to a best-in-class specification, with 56 dock doors, 8 level access doors, cross docked loading, yard depths of up to 50 metres, 62 HGV spaces, 384 car parking spaces and a power supply of 2.5 MVA. The scheme will target BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and will achieve net zero carbon in construction, aligning with occupiers’ demand for sustainable, future-proofed buildings.”

Rob Whatmuff, Director at Colliers, said: “Wakefield 500 ticks all the boxes for occupiers looking for large-scale logistics space, combining a prime location with excellent road and rail connectivity, access to a strong local workforce and a high-quality, modern specification. With a real shortage of good-quality space across West Yorkshire, we expect strong demand from businesses looking to grow or relocate. It’s a great addition to the Wakefield market, and we’re pleased to be part of the team bringing it forward.”

Toby Vernon, Director at CPP added: “This is one of the most highly anticipated speculative industrial/logistics developments to come out of the ground across the whole of the Northern UK market. The scale of the building and the super prime location makes this development significant from a national perspective and we anticipate a high level of occupier demand from a broad range and depth of end users”.

Wakefield Europort sits at the intersection of Northern England's core freight routes, connecting to the north-south M1 and A1(M) motorways. Existing occupiers at the hub include confectionery manufacturer Haribo, bakery brand Warburtons, supermarket chain Asda, and postal carrier Royal Mail.

The site also accommodates an open-access intermodal rail freight terminal operated by Maritime Transport, which offers containerised freight links directly to UK deep-sea container ports such as Felixstowe and Southampton.