WeChefs Signs 3,500-Square-Meter Industrial Lease With SEGRO at Corbas Near Lyon

WeChefs, a shared food production platform that is part of the Isalys Group, has signed a lease with SEGRO for approximately 3,500 square meters at SEGRO Centre Corbas Montmartin 1 in Corbas, southeast of Lyon. The deal, announced September 17, 2026, marks WeChefs' entry into the Lyon market and its first industrial-scale production facility in the region.

Deal Structure and Property Configuration

The leased space at 4, avenue de Montmartin, 69960 Corbas, comprises a ground-floor production hall of approximately 2,900 square meters and nearly 600 square meters of office space spread across the ground and first floors. The building totals 5,402 square meters, meaning WeChefs is occupying roughly 65 percent of the asset.

The building features nine lorry loading bays and ground-level doors. A dedicated electrical capacity of 500 kVA — described as unusually high for a property of this size — was incorporated at the design stage to support the refrigeration equipment required for food production. The concrete ground-floor slab is rated at three tonnes per square meter, suitable for heavy industrial equipment, and clear heights reach 6.5 meters on the ground floor and 4.6 meters on the first floor. Two freight lifts with three-tonne capacity serve the building, with provision for a third.

The lease takes effect October 1, 2026, with the site scheduled to become operational in the first quarter of 2027.

WeChefs' Lyon Expansion and Isalys Group Footprint

WeChefs designs, develops, and provides catering professionals with shared food production facilities, managing the value chain from research and development through to the scaling of industrial operations. The Corbas facility is the company's first industrial unit in the Lyon region, with a target output of 25,000 meals per day and the anticipated creation of approximately 100 long-term jobs.

The site will also house teams from two other Isalys Group divisions: Labo Conseil, which designs and manufactures laboratories, and Isalys Consulting, which will develop its pharmaceutical engineering consultancy business in the Lyon area from the same address.

Jérôme David, Managing Director of WeChefs, said the Corbas location offered the combination of agri-food proximity, motorway access, and technical infrastructure the company required. "SEGRO Centre Corbas Montmartin 1 offers all the advantages we were looking for when setting up our first production facility in the Lyon region: a location at the heart of the local agri-food hub, in the immediate vicinity of the wholesale market and major motorways, as well as infrastructure perfectly suited to our industrial requirements: dedicated electrical power, a sufficient number of lorry loading bays, and the capacity to accommodate our refrigeration equipment," David said.

Location and Market Context

The Corbas site sits within Lyon's agri-food corridor, adjacent to the city's wholesale market and at the junction of the A46, A43, and A7 motorways. The location places the facility approximately 20 minutes from Lyon's city center and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport.

The deal reflects tightening supply of urban industrial land capable of supporting operationally complex, power-intensive uses. The building's 46 light-vehicle dock doors, 60 car and van parking spaces — including 12 with electric vehicle charging — and two heavy-vehicle parking areas further support high-frequency distribution alongside production activity.

SEGRO, a UK Real Estate Investment Trust listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris, owns, manages, and develops warehousing, industrial property, and data centers across the UK and seven other European countries, with a portfolio of 10.9 million square meters.

Laurence Giard, Managing Director France at SEGRO, said the transaction demonstrated the company's ability to deliver complex projects on compressed timelines. "WeChefs' move into SEGRO Centre Corbas Montmartin 1 demonstrates how our buildings can accommodate production activities at the heart of the Lyon metropolitan area. This was a challenging project, brought to fruition in just a few weeks, made possible by the trust and the quality of the dialogue established between our teams and those at WeChefs, in the interests of employment and the region's economic development," Giard said.

Outlook

The Corbas transaction illustrates growing demand from food and cold-chain operators for urban industrial space that combines logistical connectivity with high-specification power and loading infrastructure. For SEGRO, the lease adds a new client in France and extends the company's presence in Lyon's industrial market with a tenant whose operations span food production, laboratory design, and pharmaceutical consulting.

WeChefs' earlier shared food production site in Nanterre, which opened in September 2024, offered modular lab space ranging from 50 to more than 1,000 square meters for food professionals. The Corbas facility represents a step up in scale to full industrial production.

Sources

SEGRO — WeChefs has chosen SEGRO to set up its first food production facility in the Lyon region (September 17, 2026)