Building work on what will become Europe’s largest parcel depot has been completed ahead of schedule.
The £100 million facility, being built for DPD, will create around 1,000 permanent new jobs when it opens for business in September 2015.
Work began on the centre – close to J1 of the M69 – in July 2013, and involved 250,000 tonnes of earth being moved to prepare the site, 4,500 tonnes of steelwork and 75,000 tonnes of concrete.
The building itself is 470 metres long and 40 metres wide with 264 loading dock doors, while the site in total covers 32 acres. The building also includes 6,790 sq m of mezzanine split over two levels with 624 sq m of office space.
Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO, commented; “This is a very significant day for us. The building looks absolutely stunning and for it to be completed ahead of schedule is a credit to everyone involved. Hinckley gives us significant scope to expand our capacity and allows us to stay one step ahead of the growth in the online parcel market and our competitors.
“Our current level of investment is unprecedented in the industry and Hinckley is just part of the expansion that has taken place in recent times. We’ve also opened 18 new depots around the country in the last two years, nine of them being purpose-built developments. As a result, we have been creating around 1,000 new jobs a year and 2015 will see us continue with that level of growth.”
