In London, a major fashion retailer has a fleet of electric vehicles delivering parcels to over 3 million homes in the capital every day. The purpose-built parcel distribution depot they asked us to build for them at Prologis Park Hemel Hempstead was crucial to their ability to deliver parcels sustainably and efficiently to their customers. However, when their operations director saw the delivery timeframe for the new 80,000 square foot parcel hub, he admitted to being skeptical that the building would be up and running in time for peak operation.
“Throughout my career in logistics I’ve always wanted to occupy a Prologis building,” the director admits. “I did have my doubts, however, that the building would be finished in time for us to hit peak in October 2018.”
He needn’t have worried. Thanks to the expertise and dedication of our team, the retailer was able to hit peak with a new, sustainable distribution depot and the director fulfilled a life-long desire to run an operation in a Prologis building. .
On budget and on time
The retailer's new 80,000 square foot distribution depot needed to be up and running in time for Black Friday and the run up to the Christmas trading season. Building work on the new park started on March 26, 2018, and completed just 28 weeks later on October 8th, 2018. Early access was granted to the retailer so they could start the fit-out of the new depot on October 3, and the depot was fully operational by October 14, 2018.
The new depot has enabled the creation of 50 new jobs and is responsible for the delivery of about 130,000 parcels to the London area each day.
In order to ensure vehicles could access the building in time for occupation, Prologis UK had to complete a new site access (and off-site highways improvements), with a value of £2 million.
“At Prologis UK we pride ourselves on delivering on our promises so our customers can deliver theirs. As well as completing the build on time and on budget, we knew how important it was to the retailer that we were able to provide a building that met the highest standards of sustainability, including independent certification by The Planet Mark.”
Simon Cox, head of sustainability at Prologis UK
