Hertfordshire industrial and logistics market

Hertfordshire is the most London-influenced industrial market in the East of England, wrapped around the M25, M1 and A1(M) and serving the capital's northern logistics needs from Hemel Hempstead, Watford, St Albans, Stevenage, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City. The county's defining asset is Maylands Business Park near M1 Junction 8, one of the largest employment areas in the East of England, complemented by Hatfield Business Park on the former de Havilland aerodrome, which hosts Ocado's headquarters. Demand is led by names that need proximity to London: Ocado, DHL, Tesco, Next, Royal Mail, Costco and a strong base of trade and merchant occupiers including Selco and Wickes.

The county also carries a notable advanced-manufacturing and pharmaceutical dimension. Gunnels Wood in Stevenage, fronting the A1(M) at Junction 7, is the town's principal employment area and home to occupiers including MBDA, Airbus and GSK, while Sigma Pharmaceuticals and Antalis add depth to the distribution base. That mix of last-mile logistics, headquarters operations and high-value manufacturing gives Hertfordshire a more diverse and resilient occupier profile than its position as a London satellite might suggest.

London adjacency and the last-mile premium

Hertfordshire's industrial values are driven first and foremost by London adjacency. The M25, M1 and A1(M) converge in and around the county, and locations such as Watford Business Park and the Colonial Way estate near M1 Junction 5 function as last-mile distribution points for the capital's northern suburbs. That proximity supports rents and yields at the top of the regional range and underpins the most intense competition for space.

The constraint is land. Hertfordshire is heavily green-belted and densely developed, which keeps new large-format supply scarce and concentrates value in the existing stock. For lenders, the scarcity of consented industrial land is a double-edged factor: it supports rental growth and capital values on standing assets, but it also makes development finance more dependent on planning certainty than in less constrained counties. Well-located last-mile assets, by contrast, offer some of the most durable income in the region.

Maylands, Hatfield and the headquarters economy

Maylands Business Park near M1 Junction 8 is the county's flagship employment area and a benchmark for the regional market, combining scale, motorway access and a deep occupier base. Hatfield Business Park complements it, anchored by Ocado's headquarters and built on the former de Havilland aerodrome, giving the county a cluster where logistics, headquarters functions and modern business space coexist.

This headquarters and corporate dimension distinguishes Hertfordshire from purely distribution-led counties. Sphere Industrial Estate and Brick Knoll Park in St Albans, with access to the M25, M1 and A1(M), and the Stevenage and Welwyn employment areas, support a tenant base that values address and connectivity as much as raw shed space. For investors, that mix means a portfolio of Hertfordshire assets can blend logistics income with corporate and manufacturing covenants, spreading exposure across demand types.

Supply, rents and yields in regional context

Hertfordshire prices at the top of the South East and East regional market, where Cushman and Wakefield reported prime rent of £23.50 per sq ft and a prime yield of 4.9 percent in Q2 2025, on take-up of 1.63m sq ft against availability of 12.04m sq ft. Given the county's London adjacency and land scarcity, it sits firmly at the premium end of that range, well above the national prime big-box rent of around £11.90 per sq ft reported by Colliers for June 2025.

The national backdrop reinforces the case for standing assets. Knight Frank reported UK vacancy near 7.5 percent against a 4.6 percent ten-year average, with 2025 completions of about 16m sq ft, the lowest since 2018, while the prime industrial yield held at roughly 5.00 to 5.25 percent per Knight Frank's December 2025 reading. In a tightly supplied county like Hertfordshire, low completions translate directly into pricing power for owners of modern, well-located stock, while secondary assets trade nearer the 6 percent national secondary level and depend more on reversion and refurbishment.

Where development concentrates and what it means for value

Development opportunity in Hertfordshire is constrained and therefore concentrated on a handful of strategic locations: the M1 Junction 8 area around Maylands, the A1(M) corridor at Hatfield and Stevenage, and selective last-mile sites near M25 and M1 junctions. New large-format delivery is the exception rather than the rule, which is precisely why standing prime assets hold their value so well. Most value creation comes through intensification, refurbishment and repositioning of existing estates rather than greenfield delivery.

For asset values, scarcity is the watchword. Modern boxes and well-located last-mile assets in Hertfordshire are among the most defensive holdings in the region, because they cannot easily be replicated and because demand from London-facing logistics, grocery and parcels is structural. Older multi-let estates can still perform, but their returns hinge on active management and on capturing the rental reversion that constrained supply creates. The county rewards owners who can unlock or upgrade space within the planning envelope.

How we fund warehouse property in Hertfordshire

In a county where value is concentrated in standing stock, our financing work centres on investment and refurbishment as much as on new build. For investment purchases of prime last-mile and Maylands-type assets, we arrange senior term debt that prices off London-facing demand, scarcity of supply and the strength of covenants from Ocado, DHL, Tesco and the trade occupiers, with keen leverage available because reletting risk on well-located stock is low. Where a borrower needs to move fast on a scarce asset, bridging finance lets us complete ahead of a competitive field and refinance onto term once the income position is confirmed.

Because the binding constraint here is planning rather than demand, development and value-add finance is structured carefully around consent. For the limited new schemes that come forward on the A1(M) corridor at Hatfield and Stevenage, we arrange development facilities against build cost and end value with lenders comfortable taking a view on the county's supply scarcity, and for intensification and refurbishment of existing estates we use bridge-to-term structures that fund the works and roll onto an investment loan as the upgraded space lets. As arrangers and introducers we run a competitive process across banks, debt funds and specialist lenders, and we can blend the county's logistics, corporate and manufacturing covenants within a single facility, reflecting the unusually diverse income that Hertfordshire portfolios can carry.

Outlook for Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire's outlook is among the most defensive in the East of England. London adjacency, acute land scarcity and a diversified base of logistics, headquarters and manufacturing demand should keep prime values resilient and support rental growth at or above the national 2026 forecast of roughly 2.7 to 2.9 percent on the best stock. With completions nationally at multi-year lows, the county's supply constraint works firmly in owners' favour. The chief challenge is not demand but delivery: the same planning and green-belt limits that protect existing values also make it hard to add new space, placing a premium on assets that already exist and on the few sites that can be unlocked.

Market figures are East of England-level benchmarks attributed to Cushman & Wakefield (Marketbeat Logistics & Industrial, Q2 2025), used as regional context for Hertfordshire rather than a county-specific measurement. National figures: VOA and the research houses as cited.