[2025] UKUT 163 (LC)

The property is located in an established industrial and warehouse estate about 1.9 miles northeast of Hemel Hempstead town centre. Junction 8 of the M1 motorway is about 1.25 miles to the southeast and is accessed via Maylands Avenue, which is the spine road of the estate, and then by travelling eastwards along the A414 Breakspear Way. This route is 2.1 miles in length. Goods vehicle access to the site is from Swallowdale Lane by means of a short spur road which is shared with a neighbouring warehouse. Access to the 109 space car park is from Maxted Road. The plan below shows the general layout of the site and the access points.

The Property is a purpose-built distribution warehouse which was first occupied in 1998. It is of steel, portal frame construction with a clear height to the underside of the eaves haunch of 11.9 metres. The gross internal area amounts to 18,349.06 m² and the area expressed in ‘terms of main space’(‘ITMS’), that is expressed as a total of the factorised areas, is 14,183.01 m². We say more about factorised areas later in the decision.

The warehouse is arranged as two bays, orientated on a northeast /southwest axis. Each bay is some 150 metres long and about 37 metres wide. A substantial mezzanine floor has been installed in the warehouse by a previous tenant and was demised to the appellant. It occupies about 50% of the available warehouse area. It is supported on steel joists and stanchions bolted to the floor slab. There is clear height of about 8 metres underneath and 3.2 metres above. It is served by two goods lifts. The remaining full height space is partly racked for palletised storage. We understand that the warehouse floor loading is 50 kilonewtons (5,098.6 kg) per square metre.

The warehouse is equipped with 10 dock levellers, these are adjustable devices which allow level loading from the warehouse floor directly into a goods vehicle or trailer. In addition, there are five level access loading bays. All of the levellers and bays face on to an ‘L’ shaped yard which has space for 11 articulated lorries in addition to the spaces adjacent to the loading points. Part of the yard adjacent to the level access doors is used as canopied storage, the canopy extending to some 746.9 m². A portion of the carpark at the northwestern end of the site is used as overflow lorry parking and containerised storage.

Two storey office and ancillary accommodation is provided adjacent to the northeastern elevation of the warehouse. The ground floor is of brick construction, with cladding to the first floor. The double glazed windows are metal framed. Heating is provided by wall mounted hot water radiators and fluorescent lighting is recessed within suspended ceiling tiles.