The CoStar Impact Award judges noted that Indurent Park Derby, a major project being developed by Blackstone’s industrial platform, is the commercial development that had the most impact in 2024 in the East Midlands, due to its ability to drive economic growth, innovation and sustainability.
The judges added the project represented the best in urban regeneration in the East Midlands, transforming 27.1 hectares of brownfield land into a manufacturing and logistics hub that will create high-skilled jobs and drive regional economic growth.
Indurent is a Blackstone portfolio company set up in July 2024 by bringing together St Modwen Logistics and Industrials Real Estate Investment Trust. In 2014, Network Rail selected had St Modwen as its development partner to regenerate the site, which had long been underused despite its location near Pride Park and Wyvern Retail Park.
In 2018, St Modwen unveiled plans for a high-quality industrial and logistics development, strategically designed to attract international businesses. Indurent Park Derby comprises more than 60,387 square metres of sustainable warehousing and 4,645 square metres of Grade A office space, supporting more than 250 jobs, and strategic partnerships have helped address site-access challenges, resulting in a £40 million road-improvement scheme along the A52 and Wyvern Way and £22 million investment from the Indurent business in on-site infrastructure.
In 2019, St Modwen identified that to provide market leading space, customers increasingly needed more power. This resulted in a seven-figure investment to bring 7.5 MVA of power to the site, which overcame logistical challenges such as navigating a two-mile route from the city and under the River Derwent to minimise disruption to the local road network.
About the project:
The project was a collaboration between St Modwen Logistics, now Indurent, Network Rail and Derby City Council, and over the course of its development has overcome complex brownfield remediation, planning hurdles and infrastructure constraints and secured consent for industrial development that required extensive coordination. Originally, the site had been earmarked for retail.
Between 2021 and 2024, Indurent Park Derby delivered two phases after more than £100 million in investment. Now underway, the final phase is due to be completed by autumn 2025. In total, 51,000 square metres across eight units have been speculatively developed, with the site supporting manufacturing and engineering to finance and research and development and attracting blue-chip global customers and further investment.
Key occupiers signed include Rolls-Royce, which in early 2023 committed to a 13,750-square-metre warehouse and Swedish medical technology form Getinge, which established its Global Centre of Excellence for Chemistry and UK headquarters in a 7,246-square-metre unit. Indurent Park Derby has fulfilled the criteria of the Indurent Code, a best-in-class sustainability standard. All units are rated BREEAM Excellent, with EPC A+ accreditation, smart building technology and rooftop photovoltaic systems that deliver environmental and operational cost benefits.
What the judges said:
Maggie Grogan, managing director, Midlands, Muse Places, said the developers have overcome a “series of complex site challenges to deliver a variety of tenants across the site adding to the diversity of the development”. Tom Boardman-Weston, managing director, Manston Investments, said: “Clear challenges were overcome in terms of re-developing brownfield land and having to pivot from retail to industrial. The number and type of stakeholders involved clearly added to the complexity of the development, and attention appears to have been given to the appropriate management of their expectations.”
Grant Butterworth, head of planning, Leicester City Council, said the “quality of tenants have realised a development [that] is very significant in the economic development of the region”, while Katie Parsons, director, RCA Regeneration, added the project “is a great example of collaborative urban regeneration that has delivered a high-quality employment site for the Midlands”.
They made it happen:
Rob Richardson, development director, Ben Silcock, senior development manager, Ian Martin, senior construction manager, Damien Holdstock, planning director, all at Indurent; Ben Pugh, associate director, Wakemans; Stuart Hancox, studio director, Stephen George & Partners; Alex Parkes, principal engineer, Rodgers Leask; Ben Shearman, construction director, Winvic; Christian Smith, director, Savills, and Nick Hosking, director, Innes England.
