Two empty office buildings on Bristol’s Aztec West business park are to be knocked down and replaced by an industrial warehouse in what is believed to be the first property deal of its kind in the city.
Cascade 1 and 2, pictured, which together occupy a 1.96-acre site on what is seen as the area’s premier out-of-town business park, have been acquired real estate investment firm Barwood. 
The Northampton-based company plans to demolish the pair of two-storey office buildings – which it described as obsolete – and speculatively develop a 38,136 sq ft single hi-tech industrial unit on the site.
It said the move was to “capture the exceptional occupational and investor demand in this location,” adding that the new building would have a strong sustainability focus.
Built in the 1980s, Cascade 1, which is 30,000 sq ft, was last occupied by an IT security firm, while Cascade 2, which is 10,000 sq ft and was built around 15 years ago. Only one of its floors has ever been occupied.
Bristol property market experts believe the move is the first of its kind in the city but unlikely to be the last as the out-of-town warehouse market continues to thrive at a time when many older office buildings are struggling to find occupiers.
The sale of the two properties attracted strong interest, according to Bristol property consultancy Alder King, which acted for the vendor, a private investor.
Alder King office agency team associate Tom Dugay said: “We’re familiar with redundant office buildings being converted to residential use but this office-to-industrial proposal reflects the strength of demand for industrial space in Bristol’s heavily land and stock-constrained market.”
Barwood, which was behind the development of the 12-acre Central Park logistics and Travelodge scheme in Avonmouth, has raised more than £41m in the past three months for its latest growth fund, which was used to buy the Aztec West site.
Barwood investment director Tom Gold added: “We continue to invest in underperforming, undermanaged or obsolete real estate through speculative development, asset management or repositioning, concentrating on locations with strong rental growth prospects and occupier demand.
“This site is an excellent first asset for the fund and we look forward to progressing through planning.”
Barwood Capital managing director Hugh Elrington said the new fund continued its investment strategy of investing in underperforming, undermanaged or obsolete real estate in UK regional markets with the potential to deliver strong and sustainable growth through planning, development and proactive asset management.
“We focus on opportunities where there is the ability to repurpose, regenerate and reposition assets or sites across office, industrial, retail warehousing, later living and science/tech clusters,” he added.
