A national property firm has expanded its pipeline of self-storage units with the acquisition of a site in the South West.
London-headquartered Martin’s Properties has bought the freehold interest in the one-acre North Bristol site from a UK fund.
The move builds on the firm’s presence in the self-storage market, which it has identified as a strong growth sector with strong fundamentals.
It says growth in the sector has 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 an increasing demand for easily accessible self storage.
The acquisition of Nicholson House on Lime Kiln Close, Filton, comes as Martin’s Properties continues to create and fund its new self-storage business, which is acquiring sites, securing planning, developing and operating new purpose-built facilities across the South West and South.
Martin’s Properties plans to redevelop the site, which includes a vacant 15,444 sq ft office building, to provide a new self-storage facility to serve the surrounding area.
In addition, the family-owned firm is looking for a number of new, one to two-acre sites in the South West and South – with key target locations including Bath, Trowbridge, Taunton, Yeovil, Dorchester, Southampton, Aylesbury and Banbury.
Graham Gunn, head of operations – self storage at Martin’s Properties, said: “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 one to two acre sites across the South and South West of England.”
Richard Bourne, Martin’s Properties CEO, added: “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.”
Martin’s Properties was established in 1956 by the Martin family. Today it includes a £250m prime Chelsea mixed-use investment portfolio and a £115m 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.
Hartnell Taylor Cook acted for Martin’s Properties and Sayner Real Estate acted for the vendor.