PharmaPac
Client Snapshot
Client: PharmaPac
Sector: Pharmaceuticals & Contract Manufacturing
Turnover: c.£12 million
Location: Units 20–30, Valley Road Business Park, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 7EL
Property Size: 1,818.8 sqm (19,578 sq ft)
Service Delivered: Rent Review Negotiation (Lease Advisory)
About PharmaPac
PharmaPac is a specialist turnkey contract manufacturer serving some of the world's largest pharmaceutical, consumer healthcare, and veterinary companies. Operating from a purpose-built production facility on the Wirral, the business holds MHRA accreditation, one of the most rigorous quality standards in the UK pharmaceutical sector, and provides precise filling of solids, semi-solids, liquids, and powders into a diverse range of packaging using state-of-the-art machinery.
As an ethically-driven manufacturer, PharmaPac's entire operation is underpinned by robust quality credentials and a commitment to regulatory compliance. The facility's highly controlled environment and specialist capabilities mean that any disruption to operations, or unexpected increases in occupancy costs, carries significant commercial consequence.
The Challenge
In 2023, PharmaPac's landlord served notice of a rent review on their primary production site at Valley Road Business Park. The landlord's initial proposal sought to increase the passing rent from £92,000 per annum to £150,000 per annum - a near 63% uplift.
For an MHRA-accredited manufacturer operating on tight pharmaceutical-sector margins, the implications were significant:
An unchallenged increase of £58,000 per annum would amount to £290,000 in additional occupancy costs over a standard five-year review period.
Any rent increase had to be assessed against true open market evidence, not simply accepted at the landlord's headline figure.
PharmaPac needed specialist commercial property advice to robustly challenge the proposal, backed by comparable market data and experienced negotiation.
The challenge was clear: engage a specialist lease advisory team with both the local market intelligence and the negotiation expertise to push back on an inflated landlord proposal and secure a fair, commercially sustainable rent.
Our Approach
PharmaPac approached The UpCo to act on their behalf following the landlord's rent review notification. The UpCo's lease advisory team conducted a thorough review of the property, the terms of the lease, and the prevailing open market evidence across comparable industrial and warehouse units across the Wirral and wider Merseyside commercial property market.
The engagement followed a structured, evidence-led process:
Initial instruction and property review: assessing the lease terms, review date, and the basis upon which the landlord's proposal had been calculated.
Market analysis: identifying and analysing genuinely comparable open market transactions to establish an accurate view of the prevailing rental tone for industrial property in the area.
Counter-proposal: preparing and submitting a robust, evidence-backed counter to the landlord's £150,000 per annum proposal.
Negotiation: entering into direct negotiation with the landlord and their agents to reach a commercially fair settlement.
Throughout the process, The UpCo maintained close communication with PharmaPac's management team, ensuring they were fully informed at each stage and that any settlement reflected the true rental value of the property, not the landlord's aspirational figure.
The Outcome
Following detailed market analysis and focused negotiation, The UpCo successfully challenged the landlord's proposal and agreed a settlement significantly below the figure originally sought.
Rent Review 1 - Primary Production Units
Landlord's Opening Proposal: £150,000
Passing Rent (pre-review): £92,000
Settled Rent (agreed with The UpCo): £105,900
Annual Saving vs. Landlord's Proposal: £44,100 p.a.
Total Saving Over 5-Year Period: £220,500
Rent Review 2 - Subsequent Units
Following the successful outcome on the primary units, The UpCo was retained to act on a further rent review covering additional units within PharmaPac's Wirral estate.
Landlord's Opening Proposal: £262,500
Settled Rent (agreed with The UpCo): £217,000
Annual Saving vs. Landlord's Proposal: £45,500 p.a.
Total Saving Over 5-Year Period: £227,500
Combined Impact
£448,000
Total saving over 5 years (both reviews)
£89,600
Average annual saving
2 Reviews
Successfully negotiated for PharmaPac
Why It Mattered
For a regulated manufacturer like PharmaPac, site stability is operationally critical. Relocating an MHRA-accredited production facility is not a straightforward commercial decision; it carries significant regulatory, logistical, and financial risk. This makes robust rent review management essential: overpaying on occupancy costs is not simply a financial inconvenience, it directly erodes the margins that fund quality compliance, investment in machinery, and the ability to remain competitive in the pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market.
By instructing specialist commercial property consultants with direct experience in industrial lease advisory across Merseyside and the North West, PharmaPac secured a fair, sustainable rent that accurately reflected genuine open market conditions, rather than accepting an inflated figure that would have compounded across five years and set a damaging precedent for future reviews.