Former Cambridge sorting office bought for 9.3m

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Former Cambridge Royal Mail sorting office to become £9.3m storage facility after being brought by the Big Yellow Self Storage company

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A STORAGE company has ended a 14-year search for premises in Cambridge after buying the city's former Royal Mail sorting office for £9.3m.

The Big Yellow Self Storage company has exchanged contracts on the purchase of the old sorting office in Henley Road, which closed earlier this year.

It will refurbish and convert the depot into a 55,000 sq ft storage centre, which will open in the second half of 2015. The acquisition and refurbishment of the 1.8 acre site is expected to cost £9.3m. It is not known how many people will be employed at the new depot.

Big Yellow announced the news to shareholders when they revealed their results for the six months to September, which showed revenue of the business had grown 11% compared to the previous year, up to £39.9m from £35.5m. Pre-tax profits were £18.4m, a 29% rise comp[ared to the previous year's figure of £14.2m.

In his statement to shareholders, executive chairman Nicholas Vetch said: "This is our first new site acquisition for construction in seven years. The acquisition is testament to our confidence in both Cambridge and our business model.

"It should be noted, however, that the opportunity took 14 years to present itself, despite continual searching over that time. Notwithstanding our desire to grow this business it will remain difficult to procure new sites of sufficient quality. That said, further opportunities will arise and we will exploit them."

The UK's largest storage brand, with 78 stores around the country, Big Yellow has also recently purchased a new store in Oxford.

Cambridge property firm Bidwells represented Big Yellow in the deal, while another city firm Savills, acted for the previous owner of the site.

"The freehold unit on Henley Road offers good quality warehouse space in a prominent position in one of Cambridge's most established trade areas," said Phillip Ridoutt, director at Savills Cambridge.

"As a result we received healthy interest from trade-counter operators and are pleased with the overall price achieved on behalf of our client."

Russell Catley, partner at Bidwells, added: "Assisting Big Yellow in their search during 14 years for a suitable property shows just how tight the commercial property market is in the city, particularly for freeholds."

The closure of the sorting office was announced in 2012, with services being redirected to depots in Peterborough and Chelmsford. Royal Mail said the decision was made due to the "huge growth in electronic communications and the resulting decline in overall mail volumes."