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Prologis breaks BREEAM record

Posted on by Keith McKinley

A brand new distribution centre developed and owned by Prologis UK has achieved the highest sustainability rating of any project in its category.

Completed recently, the 233,860 sq ft building – known as DC3a – achieved a BREEAM rating of 88.8% (Outstanding). This is the highest rating recorded for a new building assessed under the BREEAM 2018 New Construction Manual (Industrial – Shell and Core).

Completed in July 2022, DC3a was built by Prologis UK in partnership with lead contractor, VolkerFitzpatrick. BREEAM has provided a holistic assessment of the development, based on categories focussing on innovation, health & wellbeing, energy, materials, waste, water, transportation, land use & ecology and pollution.

The speculative development of DC3a, means that Prologis UK now has more than 770,000 sq ft of logistics space at Maylands Business Park. This brings the company’s total development footprint in Hemel Hempstead to more than 1.5m sq ft

Martin Cooper, Vice President, development management at Prologis UK, said: “We are very proud of this record-breaking BREEAM rating, which underlines the care and commitment that we give to developing buildings that really are best in class and built for the long term. The property has attracted great market interest, not just due to its sustainability credentials, but also due to its excellent location to the east of Hemel Hempstead, close to Junction 8 of the M1, with access to London and the South East.”

Stuart Deverill, managing director of VolkerFitzpatrick’s building division, said: “It is extremely satisfying to know that the efforts made to construct this building in the most sustainable way possible have been recognised. This couldn’t have been achieved without Prologis UK’s sustainability vision, and the commitment of our construction partners right across the supply chain.”

 

Bis Henderson Space named as a CCS supplier

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Bis Henderson Space has been named as a supplier on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Storage, Distribution, Kitting and Associated Services (RM6282) Framework Agreement.

Launched in February 2022, the commercial agreement will last for four years and offers public sector organisations in the UK, such as central and local government authorities, emergency services and the NHS, access to a range of storage, distribution and kitting solutions and services under one agreement. The agreement includes UK and international storage and transportation, quality control of items and specialist collection and delivery services.

What does this mean for the public sector?

The Crown Commercial Service is an executive agency of the Cabinet Office; supporting the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring goods and services.

In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn – supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.

For public sector organisations, the CCS agreement delivers significant and sustainable cost savings through its commercial activity and aggregated procurement arrangements. Suppliers are carefully evaluated during the tender process, and pre-agreed terms and conditions offer clients sound contractual safeguards.

The framework is available to all central Government departments and other UK public sector bodies, including local authorities, charities, executive agencies, the health sector, police authorities, fire and rescue services, education providers and the devolved administrations.

Steve Purvis (pictured), Managing Director at Bis Henderson Space, commented, ”We’re delighted to be named as a supplier on this framework and to have the opportunity to build on our excellent track record working with Government and the Public Sector. As an SME, this framework agreement allows us to open up our services in storage, kitting and transport to Crown Commercial Services customers, which is pivotal to our business direction and growth.”

Bis Henderson Space has been awarded a position on the following lots for RM6282:

  • Lot 3a – Storage
  • Lot 3b – Kitting and Fulfilment Solutions and Service
  • Lot 3c – Transport and Distribution

OPEX to exhibit automation solutions at IMHX

Posted on by Keith McKinley

OPEX Corporation, a global leader in automation for almost 50 years, is introducing leading-edge warehouse automation technology to attendees of IMHX on 5-9 September at the NEC Birmingham.

This will be OPEX’s first time exhibiting at IMHX and the first time the company’s Sure Sort robotic sorting system will be on display at a trade show in the UK.

“Sure Sort  is a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional put-wall sorting,” said Nicolas Dewit, Director of Business Development for Europe, Middle East, and Asia (EMEA), OPEX Warehouse Automation. “It is an ideal e-Commerce solution for micro-fulfilment centres, retail stores, and distribution centres that demand a small footprint, high accuracy, speed, and high productivity in a system that does not increase labour.”

Sure Sort robotic delivery vehicles, iBOTs, quickly and accurately process up to 2,400 items each hour with as little as three operators, and have the ability to recharge as they travel through the system. Sure Sort will be on display at IMHX 2022 Stand 5D115 where attendees can interact with OPEX operators to better understand how the system can benefit their business.

Used by leading retailers, 3PLs, and distributors for order handling, cross-docking, and parcel sorting, Sure Sort will be installed in several leading UK companies, including Boux Avenue, a part of the Theo Paphitis Retail Group, and third-party logistics company Torque.

OPEX offers a suite of modular, flexible systems that can be customised and easily adapted to meet evolving business needs, including Perfect Pick, an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) that dramatically improves speed, efficiency, and reliability.

IMHX 2022 attendees can experience Perfect Pick HD through a virtual reality tour of a warehouse in which they will pick items using an Oculus headset and guided by OPEX experts.

Ideal for e-Commerce fulfilment and micro-fulfilment, Perfect Pick reduces reliance on labour to pick and ship orders in a system that stores inventory securely in self-contained units. High-density racking increases throughput, reliability, and effectiveness while optimising a warehouse’s space with a fleet of iBOTs that access every storage location in the warehouse aisle horizontally and vertically and deliver inventory directly to a workstation, eliminating the need for complicated conveyor systems or transfer equipment.

With generations of industry expertise and a proven track record developing first-class automation capabilities and advanced engineering, OPEX says it continuously reimagines automation technology to help clients solve their most significant business challenges. For nearly five decades, OPEX has served as a trusted partner, collaborating closely with clients to develop customised, scalable solutions.

Garbe develops logistics centre near Jena

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH is continuing its expansion course. In Bollberg near Jena (Thuringia, DE), the Hamburg-based real estate developer will build a logistics centre with a total area of 35,500 sq m on a 65,000 sq m site. Construction is scheduled to start in December 2022, with an investment of around €48m.

The property is located in the industrial park of Bollberg, a district of Stadtroda (Saale-Holzland district) in Thuringia. “A location for a logistics centre could hardly be better,” emphasises Adrian Zellner, Member of the Executive Board at Garbe Industrial Real Estate. The Hermsdorfer Kreuz interchange, which connects the A4 Bad Hersfeld−Dresden motorway with the A9 Berlin−Munich, is seven kilometres away. Both motorways are among the most important north-south and west-east axes in Germany. The A4 runs virtually within sight of the business park. The Stadtroda junction is easily reached after a one kilometre ride without having to pass through the town.

Proximity to Jena also played a role in the property purchase: “The city has made a name for itself as a high-tech location. Both international corporations and small and medium-sized companies are represented in Jena,” says Zellner. “Demand for developed land is correspondingly high. That’s why we decided to develop the logistics centre with a view to the future.”

A multi-user logistics centre with a hall area of 31,500 sq m is planned. The hall will be designed so that it can be divided into units of around 10,000 sq m or more. In addition, there will be 1,400 sq m for offices and social rooms as well as 2,500 sq m of mezzanine space. The new unit will be equipped with 30 dock levellers and three ground-level gates. Parking spaces for 117 cars and four trucks will be provided outside.

Garbe Industrial Real Estate is developing the property together with Terrae Immobiliengesellschaft mbH. A major focus of the construction is the consideration of numerous sustainability standards. Benchmark is the fulfilment of the Efficiency House Class 55 standards of the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau / Reconstruction Loan Corporation (Kfw). For an example, a photovoltaic system will be installed on the roof to generate renewable energy. Garbe Industrial Real Estate is aiming for the property to be certified according to the gold standard of the German Sustainable Building Council.

Talks with potential tenants are already underway. “There is a lot of interest. That’s why we expect full occupancy during the construction period,” says Zellner. The property is scheduled for completion in December 2023.

 

Chilled store installation completed in days

Posted on by Keith McKinley

A specialist safety installation to secure racking frames in a chilled store in Dublin, Ireland, was completed in just four days by expert supplier Rack Collapse Prevention.

Fitted in all environments of ambient, chilled and frozen, Rack Collapse Prevention’s safety system is exceptionally durable, and unlike other racking safety systems, supports from the top instead of reinforcing from the bottom, meaning in a collision event the racking structure remains stable and standing, protecting staff, stock and removing the potential for significant business disruption.

After completing an install for Oakland International’s chilled store operation in Ireland, housing some 3,000 pallets in 2020, following service growth the company extended chilled operations and again commissioned Rack Collapse Prevention to secure the added racking frames, safeguarding in total some 7,500 pallets. Established as a proven safety system in real-world racking impact events, Rack Collapse Prevention’s safety system is designed for any facility where pallet racking is used.

Oakland International Co-Founder and Group CEO, Dean Attwell, said: “We value safety as paramount, and as one of the fastest-moving environments to work in we wanted to ensure complete safety-coverage for our staff.

“We’re keen to eliminate any possibility of weakness in our warehouse safety operations and Rack Collapse Prevention provides the safest possible solution for our team, whilst also protecting our business from the potential for disruption.”

An innovative UK designed racking safety system, Rack Collapse Prevention is helping to reduce the effects of warehouse impact events for a growing number of businesses in the UK, Ireland and across Europe. With over three-decades of food and storage industry experience Rack Collapse Prevention is fast becoming a system of choice, supporting a growing number of companies to remove the dangers associated with pallet racking failure.

Rack Collapse Prevention Founder, Craig Attwell, commented: “Oakland International needed our safety system installed as soon as possible to ensure the extended warehouse was covered, and having installed phase one, they knew our capabilities and had total confidence in our system to provide a safe working environment for their people.”

 

Northants logistics units attract growing businesses

Posted on by Keith McKinley

St. Modwen Logistics, one of the UK’s leading logistics developers and managers, has announced that two growing businesses – bespoke freight company Transglobal and leading paper merchant Premier Paper – have moved into St. Modwen Park at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough, bringing much needed local investment and jobs.

St. Modwen Park at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough is located within the logistics “Golden Triangle”, offering easy access to the A14 and A45 for east to west country connectivity, and quick links to the A1 and M1 road network. Stanton Cross is a flagship mixed-use development district for Northamptonshire which is gaining more than £1bn of investment in Wellingborough by Stanton Cross Developments LLP. Once finished it will feature 1.5 million sq ft of high-specification industrial, logistics, leisure, retail and office space, in addition to opening up access to modern transport links and infrastructure. Furthermore, it will provide 3,650 new homes along with community facilities – offering a large local workforce for businesses looking to operate in or relocate to the area.

St. Modwen Park at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough offers 314,500 sq ft of sustainable warehouse space, initially comprising three buildings – 96,000 sq ft, 43,500 sq ft and the development of a further 175,000 sq ft speculative unit, which will start in Q3 2022. The initial phase has been delivered by principal building contractor, MCS Group.  Future developments of 600,000 sq ft across three parcels of land will offer additional logistics space for the area.

Keir Edmonds, Group Managing Director of MCS Group, said: “We are very proud of this project. We have delivered two very high-quality warehouse units on time for St. Modwen, according to the 39-week programme, at this impressive development at Stanton Cross. As a result, we have a very happy client and two tenants who are now able to commence the fit-out process right on schedule.”

Transglobal signed an agreement for the 96,000 sq ft building, which is a multi-use warehouse used to provide freight solutions by land, sea and air. The move will aid its rapid business growth and accommodate its customers’ evolving needs.

The 43,500 sq ft building has been let to wholesale paper and materials supplier Premier Paper. The unit will allow the company to expand into a larger warehouse space, following the diversification of the business. It will also facilitate its growth, and continue providing stocks of paper, print substrates and packaging to customers across the UK.

The completed buildings, at St. Modwen Park at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough, come with sustainability benefits including features such as PV solar panels, electric vehicle (EV) charging points and will deliver BREEAM Very Good and EPC A accreditations. Infrastructure has been installed to accommodate up to 20% of the parking spaces, which will be served by EV chargers.

Polly Troughton, Managing Director at St. Modwen Logistics, said: “St. Modwen Park at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough, is set to become a thriving commercial hub and we’re delighted to have created the space to accommodate the needs of Transglobal and Premier Paper and offering larger warehouse space which will enable them to continue to grow and succeed.

“The park is set to deliver new job opportunities and provide sustainable warehouse space for rapidly expanded businesses such as these. We welcome them to Wellingborough, which will help to support the town’s wider regeneration.”

Steven Knight, Managing Director at Transglobal, said: “Moving into this additional facility at Wellingborough will not only support our business growth and expansion, but also help us to accommodate the growth of our clients.”

David Jones, Group Marketing Director at Premier Paper Group, said: “We’re pleased to have signed a deal with St. Modwen Logistics.  This new high quality and flexible warehouse facility becomes our latest “flagship” branch which will support our future growth further cementing our position as being one of the most successful businesses of our type in Europe.”

Decathlon partners with Zeus Labs to handle UK freight

Posted on by David Priestman

Zeus Labs, which is disrupting the freight industry with its next-generation digital solutions, has teamed up with the world’s largest sports retailer Decathlon to help handle its UK freight. The partnership means that Zeus now handles nearly half of all the retailer’s restocking in the UK.

Established in Lille, France in 1976, Decathlon opened its first UK store at Surrey Quays in 1999, and now has 70 sites across the UK with plans to open hundreds more over the next decade.

The partnership comes after Zeus has undergone phenomenal growth since its founding in 2019 by young entrepreneurs Jai Kanwar and Clemente Theotokis. The firm now serves more than 40 enterprise-level clients handling over 660,000 tonnes of cargo annually, worth circa £6bn.

Zeus has also experienced a 100% conversion rate from manufacturers who trialled their platform in 2021, which offers a near ‘zero-touch’ approach to managing road freight, with complete end-to-end tracking, reconciliation and system integrations.

The platform reduces road freight administration for both shippers and hauliers, while helping small-medium fleets grow quickly with fast payment terms.

It also features a generous loyalty programme that includes 50% discounts on premium truck tyres – which amounts to a potential saving of more than several thousand pounds a year to small fleets.

Zeus, which aims to reduce the industry average of 30% of trucks running empty to just 5% by 2025, achieved a 326% growth in total volume in 2021, and is on track to deliver a 400% growth in revenues by the end of 2022.

Zeus Labs Co-Founder Jai Kanwar said: “The addition of major brands like Decathlon is a testament to the great benefits we are bringing to the logistics sector. Our easy-to-use platform is not only helping companies streamline their supply chain but also help move the industry towards better sustainability by reducing the number of empty HGVs on UK roads. Every manufacturer that trialled Zeus in 2021 has awarded business to us this year, showing just how effective our service is in modernising road freight management.”

 

AR Racking brings large team to IMHX

Posted on by Keith McKinley

AR Racking, a leading company in the international storage systems market, will be present at IMHX 2022, United Kingdom’s biggest logistics and supply chain event. AR Racking will have a large team on stand 5F42 in Hall 5 of the NEC to deal with visitors’ needs and queries on industrial storage matters on the 6, 7 and 8 September.

AR Racking, with a commercial presence in more than 60 countries, remains committed to the UK market with its growing investment in the infrastructure of the business. In fact, AR Racking has recently hired Ander Iturralde as the Sales Manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and strengthened and expanded its technical and project management team at the new office in Slough.

AR Racking will display on stand 5F42 in Hall 5 its wide variety of solutions and services that range from the design and planning of storage systems to their implementation and commissioning, directing all phases of the project to increase the competitiveness of installations and equipment through effective solutions with highly demanding quality standards. At this edition, the AR Shuttle semi-automatic solution, which combines the possibility of high density and compact storage with operating agility, will play a prominent role.

AR Racking has a proven track record in the execution of large-scale storage projects and coverage throughout Great Britain and Ireland thanks to a strong distribution network with which it has been working for many years. AR Racking stands out for its in-depth knowledge of the product, whose cycle it fully controls, from manufacture through to final installation in the warehouse, and its strict compliance with quality standards and reliable delivery times.

 

Roller sensor bar ends conveyor headaches

Posted on by Keith McKinley

SICK has developed a versatile and easy to install Roller Sensor Bar to tackle common conveyor downtime headaches for operators in wide-ranging materials handling, parcel sorting or logistics hubs.

The SICK Roller Sensor Bar has been perfected to deliver high sensing performance when detecting the leading edges of varied, flat or irregular shaped packages on conveyors. Mounted between rollers or belted sections, the SICK Roller Sensor Bar’s flexible concept dispenses with the need to pre-qualify and stock multiple sensor types.

Quickly mounted using spring-loaded end caps, a pre-configured SICK Roller Sensor Bar is ready to start work without needing to be aligned. Whether mounted during conveyor manufacture or fitted to an existing production line, the time taken to install and set up a Roller Sensor Bar is minimal.

Eliminate Conveyor Jams

“Conveyor jams are a common headache for all sorts of logistics and materials handling environments. The Roller Sensor Bar eliminates the unplanned downtime caused when conventional sensor set-ups cause jamming, package build-ups or misdirects,” says David Hannaby, SICK’s UK Product Manager for Presence Detection.

“Jams can happen when packages catch on sensing holes in the conveyor walls, or on the sensor themselves. The Roller Sensor Bar can also be configured without blind zones at the sides of the conveyor. Installation and alignment time is reduced, and there is no need to purchase extra mounting brackets or reflectors.”

SICK says it has made it quick and easy to customise the Roller Sensor Bar so it can detect a wide range of shapes and sizes of packages simultaneously, in any orientation, and even when they have irregular or thin leading edges. It can therefore be quickly adapted for a broad range of detection needs from, non-transparent poly bags and jiffy packs through to totes or pallets.

Users specify the sensor bar length ranging from 200mm to 1.2m, then set between two and eight sensing points spaced 50mm to 200mm apart. As a result, they achieve alignment precision and avoid detection blind zones. Positioned to detect from below, the SICK Roller Sensor Bar has excellent ambient light immunity so false trips and triggers, e.g. by reflections from high visibility clothing, are avoided.

A choice of ten different connector types and nine standard cable lengths ensure quick and easy installation, not just into all kinds of roller conveyors, but for belted conveyor sections and flexible conveyors.

The IO-Link variant of SICK’s Roller Sensor bar enables operators to access diagnostic information to reduce conveyor downtime. Using IO-Link, individual beam breaks can be identified for product alignment checks, e.g. to confirm a divert has happened, or to alert when objects are skewed or in the wrong position on the conveyor. It can also track each sensor’s operating status and alert to service or maintenance requirements.

With an IP67-rated housing, the SICK Roller Sensor bar is resilient to the ingress of dust or water during cleaning procedures.

 

AXA IM Alts acquires Spanish last-mile logistics asset

Posted on by Keith McKinley

AXA IM Alts, a global leader in alternative investments with €188bn of assets under management, has completed, on behalf of clients, the acquisition of a sizeable and newly developed last-mile logistics asset in Barcelona, Spain. The investment opportunity was sourced from Acciona, a global leader in providing regenerative solutions for a decarbonized economy, who acted as developer for the project and pre-let the facility to a leading global e-commerce operator on a long-term lease.

The c.58, 000 sq m asset comprises a bespoke last-mile logistics operating centre spread across 13,350 sq m of high-quality warehouse space alongside 44,540 sq m of parking, with capacity to accommodate more than 600 delivery vans. The asset will have a very strong covenant from day one, while its innovative design improves current best-practice distribution systems, supporting long-term value.

Located in central Barcelona, the second most populated city in Spain, the asset will benefit from a strategic logistics location with good transport connections due to its proximity to the main highways and ports. Additionally, the asset borders one of the main residential districts in the city centre, creating a genuine last-mile logistics network and supporting the growing demand for rapid e-commerce delivery time frames.

Due to the scarcity of vacant development land of meaningful size in the area, this acquisition presents a significant opportunity to increase AXA IM Alts’ exposure to high-quality last-mile logistics in Spain. This acquisition adds to the business’ portfolio of 158 European logistics assets located across key distribution hubs in 11 countries, and brings its European logistics assets under management to over €5bn, spread across c.5.5m sq m of high-quality primarily big box or last-mile urban logistics space.

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