Our major new logistics park at Wellingborough is rapidly taking shape, as work progresses on the development of two new buildings for companies planning to move to the site in 2020.
The buildings under construction include a new, bespoke distribution centre for NNR Global Logistics, covering 130,080 square feet, to be completed by May 2020. The other is a 130,748 square feet logistics property for Northamptonshire haulier, Linkline Transport, to be completed by July 2020. Both companies have signed 11 and ten-year leases, respectively, and are planning to move to the site in 2020. They will be sharing the Park with Yusen Logistics, which moved into a purpose-built distribution centre at the Park last year.
We’ve been working in partnership with Benniman Construction Group to create both new buildings. The programme is progressing well and, with steelwork currently being erected, both projects are on track to complete on schedule.
Spanning a total of 260,828 square feet, both new buildings will follow our well-established sustainability strategy. This will include a detailed lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) and carbon mitigation programme that is independently certified by The Planet Mark. As part of their certification, the buildings’ whole-life carbon footprints have been calculated, taking account of both their ‘embodied’ and ‘operational’ carbon emissions. Based on this information, a total of 350 acres of rainforest will be protected, through our ongoing support for environment charity, Cool Earth.
As part of our commitment to delivering social value too, we’ll be hosting a series of environmental workshops in partnership with The Eden Project. These will be for Key Stage 2 pupils at two local schools, as well as providing information about each school’s carbon footprint.
We also recently opened a new outdoor fitness ‘trim trail’ at the Park for the benefit of park employees and the local community. The trail, which follows the perimeter of ‘zone B’, as shown on the Park’s masterplan, benefits from views of the countryside and features a variety of outdoor fitness equipment, including a stationary bike monkey bars and equipment for use by those in wheelchairs The verges along the trail have also been seeded with wildflowers, in order to provide a beautiful display of natural colour.
The Park has reached an exciting stage in its development and it’s good to see construction activity stepping up. As both the developer and owner of these new buildings, we are particularly proud of their sustainable design and high-quality specification. Once built, they will provide pleasant workplaces within a well-cared-for and well-connected setting, for the benefit of workers coming to the site and the wider community. We’ll look forward to filling the remaining plot in the new year and watching the Park grow even further.
