Restrain, a global leader in the potato storage industry, has agreed a 10-year term to lease the unit, which will become its new UK HQ. This move marks a return to the company’s roots, strengthening its presence in the UK while supporting its rapidly growing global operations. The new facility features larger, modern premises for the firm designed to optimise operations and enhance distribution efficiency as its global network continues to expand.

Rachel Cook-Coulson, Director, Restrain Company Limited, commented: “With our leadership team now based in the UK, we’re perfectly positioned to combine solid and focused expertise to support our expanding markets and global vision. The UK HQ is more than a new workspace; it’s a hub for innovation, efficiency, and collaboration that will enable us to better serve our global customer base.”

The deal completes as construction works conclude on the first phase of development at Harrogate 47, with the delivery of circa 106,000 sq. ft. of speculatively developed Grade A, flexible business units. Appointed contractor Stainforth Construction has completed two terraces of flexible business units ranging in size from 5,570-12,132 sq. ft., plus three detached units from 10,000-21,409 sq. ft. – one of which is now occupied by Restrain.

The units are situated on a 45-acre site near Harrogate at J47 of the A1(M) in North Yorkshire, which in total comprises more than 600,000 sq. ft. of employment space for industrial, logistics, hi-tech and office uses, as well as amenity uses, within a landscaped environment. Planning permission was secured from Harrogate Borough Council for the low-carbon scheme, which is targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and has the potential to support 2,000 jobs.

The next phase of construction work is due to commence shortly, which will facilitate and service the next tranche of development.

The site is close to a number of North Yorkshire towns including Harrogate, Knaresborough and York, with motorway links to access Leeds, Hull and Sheffield via the M1 and M62.

Jake Shilston, Investment Manager, Bridges Fund Management, said: “Harrogate 47 has been created to appeal to a broad spectrum of regional and national occupiers seeking sustainably designed accommodation to future-proof business operations. There are chronic shortages of new space of like this in the region, and we are seeing keen interest in the available units.”

Ryan Unsworth, Joint MD, Opus North said: “Restrain’s new UK headquarter operations are a welcome addition to Harrogate 47 and to have the deal coincide with the completion of this first phase of works is indicative of the demand for high quality, sustainably developed business units in a prime location.”

Paul Mack, Director at GV&Co Property Consultants, who negotiated the transaction, said: “We are delighted to welcome such a global name and market leader to Harrogate 47 which is in keeping with the quality of the buildings and the overall park”.

Bridges Fund Management invests in the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive economy. It specialises in property solutions that help to create jobs, reduce carbon emissions and regenerate brownfield land. Opus North is recognised as one of the most active and successful developers in Yorkshire, with extensive development delivery experience.

Appointed agents for Harrogate 47 are CBRE and GV&Co.

Decarbonising real estate is essential to achieving the Paris Agreement goals. The built environment accounts for a significant share of global emissions, so the sector must play a leading role in reducing carbon.

Yet for investors, the path to decarbonisation is often unclear. Different standards and benchmarks across regions, inconsistent terminology and a lack of focus on embodied carbon make it difficult to compare assets and prioritise interventions.

Our Spectrum is designed to help navigate some of this complexity. The framework categorises assets into four levels of carbon performance, based on actual performance vs Science‑Based Targets, and provides practical steps to accelerate progress. It covers both operational and embodied carbon, ensuring a holistic approach to decarbonisation.

The ultimate aim is True Zero Buildings: assets that achieve zero emissions across the full lifecycle, without offsets. This feels ambitious today. But we believe it is achievable through greater innovation and collaboration.

Developed with insights from our investor community and industry experts, the Spectrum is intended as a starting point for change. By sharing it, we hope to encourage more dialogue, more partnerships and more action across the market.

You can read our paper on the Spectrum below – after this short explainer video featuring Bridges’ Michele Giddens, Maggie Loo and Henry Pepper.

Occupiers at Click Aylesford include Nutra Direct, a wholesale and manufacturer of sports supplements and nutrition, Fixfast, a leading manufacturer and distributor of specialist building fasteners, RVT Group, a specialist hire company, and Headline Filters, a leading UK based manufacturer. Three of the six units were let during the construction phase, while the remaining three were let within six months of the development reaching practical completion last year.

Click Aylesford sets a new standard for sustainable industrial space, delivering outstanding energy performance, lower carbon emissions, and a healthier working environment for occupiers. Thanks to a combination of smart design, solar PV and air source heat pumps, the buildings are designed to be zero emissions in operation, saving 537 tonnes of CO2 per year versus industry benchmarks. This market-leading environmental impact is reflected in the BREEAM Excellent and EPC A+ ratings achieved across the scheme.

The scheme has now been sold to DWS, a leading European asset manager with EUR 1,010bn of assets under management (as of 30 June 2025).

Jamie Garrett, Director at Wrenbridge commented: “We are delighted to complete the sale to DWS. This marks the end of a great project and is really satisfying to see the scheme full with excellent end users. It also closes out another project with Bridges within our Click Joint Venture.”

Henry Pepper, Partner at Bridges commented: “Industrial occupiers are increasingly on the look-out for highly sustainable Grade A industrial units that enable them to reduce their operating costs and improve their environmental impact. The lettings success we have enjoyed at Click Aylesford demonstrates that we have delivered a best-in-class scheme that responds to this growing demand, and we’re delighted to see that reflected in this strong exit to one of the world’s leading asset managers.”

Newmark acted on behalf of Wrenbridge and Bridges.

Bridges invested in Just Ask – a family-run ESG-driven facilities management business that worked primarily with Housing Associations – in 2017. In the subsequent years, Bridges worked with the founders to support their transition out of the day-to-day business, building a high-calibre new management team – led by CEO Mark Little, CFO Gordon Peattie and chair Jon Andrew – to lead the business through its next chapter of growth.

Alongside management, Bridges also spearheaded five bolt-on acquisitions that have collectively transformed the scale and scope of the business, extending its core sectors beyond Social Housing into Education, Healthcare and Property Management. The integrated business, which was renamed the Nexgen Group in early 2023, is now one of the few scaled facilities management platforms in the UK and remains the market leader in its core Social Housing market.

Supported by Bridges’ specialist value creation team, Nexgen has now fully integrated the acquisitions, creating a resilient, tech-enabled operational platform – including IT, Finance and HR – to support further growth. This has significantly improved the business’s efficiency, helping it to reduce carbon emissions through route optimisation and service a broader range of clients more effectively. This has enabled the enlarged Nexgen Group to enjoy strong organic growth since the acquisitions.

When Bridges invested in Just Ask, the business employed 450 people and was generating about £10m of revenue. Nexgen Group is now generating revenue of about £90m, with around 3,500 employees.

The business has retained its focus on ESG and social value, which continues to be an important differentiator when bidding for public sector and social housing contracts. Nexgen is committed to improving local communities, both through a relentless focus on quality service provision, and by providing employment opportunities for local people. Thanks to its proactive recruitment efforts, about a third of delivery staff are recruited from the social housing associations in which it operates. It is also focused on supporting people out of long-term unemployment (11% of staff fall into this category) and improving skills, notably through its in-house training academy. Volunteering is actively encouraged: staff have now pledged over 2,000 hours of their time to support local and community causes. This year, Nexgen is expecting to deliver about £2m of social value to its clients (as measured by the Social Value TOM system).

The exit is Bridges’ fourth in the last seven months, following sales of home decarbonisation delivery platform AgilityEco, specialist plant-based ingredients supplier Vegetarian Express, and Iberian low-cost fitness operator VivaGym.

James Hurrell, Partner at Bridges, said,

“Nexgen is a great example of three key elements of Bridges’ investment strategy. First, we identified a high-quality, impact-driven provider whose focus on ESG and social value would help them become a leader in their market. Second, we were able to support the founders to transition, while building an outstanding senior leadership team. And third, our value creation team has been able to work closely with management to deliver growth, both by implementing significant operational improvements, and by identifying complementary acquisitions that have transformed the breadth and scale of the business. We are proud of the progress Nexgen has made during our partnership, and are confident that Bidvest Noonan is the right partner to enable the business to continue its growth trajectory.”

Mark Little, CEO of Nexgen Group, said:

“Bridges were the perfect investment partner for Just Ask, because they understood the value that its ESG focus would bring, while also providing hands-on commercial input and support. Over the years, the Bridges team have played a vital role in helping drive through transformative acquisitions, significantly enhance our operating capacity, and scale our impact. We’re very grateful for their partnership and support over the last seven years.

“Looking forward, I am confident that Bidvest Noonan will be an excellent partner to support our long-term growth plans. They recognise that Nexgen is a best-in-class operator in an attractive niche, and we look forward to drawing on their support to further enhancing our offer to clients in the coming years.”

Declan Doyle, CEO of Bidvest Noonan, said:

“We are very impressed with the team at Nexgen Group. They have built a thriving business with a very bright and exciting future. Their strong commitment to their colleagues, customers and communities has been key to their success. We look forward to supporting them and contributing to their continued growth and success.”

Bridges has been selected as a global leader in sustainable and impact investing.

The Fulcrum-Bridges relationship represents the latest in a series, each designed specifically for UK DC pension plans within Fulcrum’s LTAF. Fulcrum has invested significantly to bring together a panel of specialist private market managers from around the world for UK DC pensions. This ‘Panel of Illiquid Specialists’ spans private equity (including venture capital), value-add real estate, value-add infrastructure, natural resources and private credit.

Bridges has been investing in private equity since 2002 and focuses on the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive economy, backing ambitious growth companies predominantly in the UK. Recent investments include:

• AgilityEco: An innovative home decarbonisation delivery platform, providing whole-of-house energy efficiency solutions to some of the most vulnerable low-income households in the UK. Last year AgilityEco worked with over 36,000 households, saving them over £2,600 on their lifetime energy bills and mitigating over 113,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
• World of Books: A ‘circular economy’ technology business that has pioneered the reuse and recycling of unwanted books. It has grown to become one of the biggest sellers of used books globally, now selling a book somewhere in the world every two seconds.

Matt Roberts, Head of Fulcrum Alternative Solutions, says:
“This partnership represents a significant milestone for Fulcrum’s private markets offering and the industry as a whole. Until now, UK DC pension plans have faced significant barriers in allocating to high-calibre private markets specialists globally. Fulcrum’s LTAF solves this problem by identifying these specialists and making them accessible for DC pensions. We believe managers like Bridges – one of the first growth equity managers to be appointed – offer a compelling return opportunity while also contributing to the broader productive finance agenda.”

Michele Giddens, Chief Executive at Bridges, says:
“For investors, tackling the huge social and environmental challenges we face is not just a moral imperative: it’s also a unique long-term value creation opportunity. We strongly believe that DC pensions should be able to access these opportunities, and use their capital productively to help build a more sustainable and inclusive economy. We salute Fulcrum’s pioneering work in creating a platform that provides this access, and we look forward to working with Matt and the team for many years to come.”

NOTES 

About Long-Term Asset Funds

Long-term Asset Funds (LTAFs) are designed to enable DC pensions and other long-term investors to invest in a wider range of long-term, less liquid assets, including private markets investments. LTAFs were a recommendation of the Productive Finance Working Group, an initiative set up by the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority in 2020 with the goal to foster long-term economic growth and support UK job creation by driving more capital into unlisted UK companies, emerging technology and infrastructure.

About Fulcrum Asset Management (LLP)

Fulcrum Asset Management specialises in managing a range of macro-oriented investment products, with the objective of delivering positive returns irrespective of market conditions. Guided by innovative macro research, a disciplined investment process and effective risk management, our aim is to be our clients’ most trusted long-term partner.

Fulcrum’s highly innovative investment approach employs both discretionary and systematic inputs that are supported by extensive in-house research. Being unconstrained by benchmarks, Fulcrum provides investment solutions with the ability to align products with a client’s specific risk appetite. All of our strategies offer transparency, liquidity and competitive fee structures.

Founded in 2004, the firm manages £5.8bn / USD$7.6* bn on behalf of a global client base including institutions and wealth managers. Fulcrum is a signatory to the UNPRI along with a number of significant organisations across the globe that embrace sustainability as part of their core objective.

For more information about Fulcrum Asset Management, visit: https://fulcrumasset.com/