Ricoh inks green deal Developer Jacfin has completed the first Five Star Green Star Industrial Design V1 development at Eastern Creek, leased to Ricoh Australia. Under the deal, Ricoh signed a 10-year lease on the 10,467-square-metre building at Eastern Creek Drive through Colliers International's David Morris. The development consists of a large warehouse area with smaller technical and office areas. Construction of the $15 million development took 10 months and was completed well ahead of schedule. Key consultants on the development included project manager Thinc and environmentally sustainable development consultant WSP Built Ecology. The head contractor for the project was Vaughan Construction. Jacfin director Jackie Waterhouse said the group adopted a raft of sustainable construction techniques on this development. The deal comes as recent evidence suggests a surge in transactional activity in the Western Sydney industrial-leasing market. Following South Sydney's recent boom in leasing transactions, Western Sydney is seeing similar deal flow success within the mid-tier industrial market. Properties that fall within the 1000 sq m to 4000 sq m range are being snapped up before they even hit the market, with inquiry levels at an all-time high. The senior manager with CBRE's industrial and logistics team in Parramatta, Elijah Shakir, said that in the past quarter, he had received a number of inquiries which had led to a higher than normal take-up rate within this range. There has been a significant increase in leasing demand and stock turnover in 2013. What seemed to be an oversupply of stock within the 1000 to 4000 sq m market earlier in the year has been taken up sooner than expected. Recent western Sydney mid-tier leasing transactions by CBRE include 2779 sq m at 511 Victoria Street, Wetherill Park to Sydney Steel Refurbishing for $105 sq m net, and 3450 sq m at 338 Woodpark Road, Smithfield, to Wales Trucks for $100 sq m net. According to CBRE's overall third-quarter industrial market report, despite a contraction in industrial employment in the past year, total twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) trade through Port Botany produced growth in July and August, increasing 5.5 per cent during the 12 months to September. The depreciating Australian dollar has supported growth in the imports sector, with chemical products, fashion retail goods and machinery and transport equipment dominating activity. In the 12 months to September, these imports accounted for 59 per cent of all full containerised goods imported through the port. CBRE senior director of NSW Industrial Jason Edge said despite limited opportunity to invest in the Sydney market, investor confidence was high.