The Richardson property dynasty has teamed with Warwickshire-based St. Francis Group to create a 600K SF Midlands speculative logistics partnership.

The Richardsons have acquired sites in Redditch and Kettering as part of the deal with St. Francis.

The 23-acre Velocity 42 site at Park Farm Industrial Estate, Redditch, will see 330K SF starting on site in summer 2018 with practical completion during 2019.

At Kettering's Cransley Park, close to junction 8 of the A14, 270K SF will be developed in four units starting on site this spring with completion in early 2019.

The joint venture partnership will speculatively develop both schemes, which already have planning permission.

“We are already fielding several enquiries from prospective parties which we expect to announce details of shortly,” Richardson Director Mark Watkins said.

The Richardson family operate principally through Oldbury-based Richardson Capital and various development businesses.

The Richardson property empire was founded in the 1970s by twins Roy and Don Richardson, who made their mark on the property business with the development of the Merry Hill shopping complex at Dudley, one of the U.K.’s first large out of town malls.

Roy Richardson’s sons Lee and Martyn took control of the business in the late 1990s and the family business is now in its third generation.