Yearsley claimed the facility would be the largest temperature-controlled depot in the UK and would create 420 jobs on completion.
Located within minutes of the A1, the 20-acre site on the Great Haddon Employment zone was said to have good transport links to all major ports and the south of England. It will combine conventional warehouse systems together with a fully automated 35m high bay crane store.
Yearsley said that with a shortage of high quality facilities and its major competitors in the market withdrawing space, this investment represents an important part of the company’s plan to build large consolidation centres in strategic locations across the UK. It is expected to reduce food miles significantly, which will translate into lower transport costs.
‘Unprecedented demand from customers’
“We are all very excited about building this fantastic new facility, which yet again shows our long-term commitment to the UK frozen food sector,” said Tim Moran, Yearsley Logistics’ sales director. “Over the past 12 months we have seen unprecedented demand from customers for our logistics services.”
Last year, Yearsley almost doubled the size of its Belle EauPark facility in Newark, Nottinghamshire, with the launch of a 27,000 pallet ambient storage depot, creating 120 new jobs.
120 new jobs
The 13,936m2 unit was constructed to support rising demand for the storage of dry goods for one of Yearsley’s unnamed foodservice customers.
The group already had a 29,000 pallet cold storage facility at Belle Eau Park, its main hub for directly supplying foodservice clients across the UK.
The £10M investment represented the first phase of development at the site, which would eventually feature a replacement cold store and new solar farm to supply electricity.