Davies Turner has announced that it will start construction of a second multi-million-pound regional distribution centre (RDC) in autumn 2016, doubling the size of its present capacity in Avonmouth, Bristol, UK. Completion of the purpose-built facility is scheduled for mid-to-late 2017.
The freight forwarding and logistics company has planning consent for a 13,000 sq m logistics hub equipped with 18 m high racking for pallet storage. The company has bought enough land at Central Park to develop a second warehouse on the same site of at least another 11,650 sq m as its business expands. One advantage of the phased construction is that the second building can if necessary be designed for a specific customer, allowing for a bespoke lay-out and specialist automation.
Together with its existing Bristol premises at the M5/M49 junction, the new RDC will provide more than 23,250 sq m of logistics warehousing plus multi-storey mezzanines suitable for sortation, rework and fulfilment services required for the company’s logistics services associated with e-commerce and online retail business. Bristol is one of Davies Turner’s key multimodal freight hubs, with satellite branches in Bridgend and Plymouth.
Davies Turner chairman, Philip Stephenson said, “We have acquired the 12-acre freehold site, which is part of the Central Park development adjacent to the proposed new M49 junction, from Delta Properties. We were attracted by the strategic location where the M4 and M5 intersect close to the Severn River crossings and the business park is even rail-connected.”
He added, “Our Bristol location, which also houses our subsidiary, Davies Turner Air Cargo, has had outstanding success and expanded rapidly in co-operation with our European partners and in the wider world markets including North America, the Middle and Far-East, and Australasia”.
The company’s existing hub is close by and will operate in tandem with the new facility, with each site delivering complementary supply chain solutions.
“This cluster-based approach will allow us to pool our local management and labour resources. It represents a much-needed expansion of capacity serving our customers in the South West. In fact we have already had to take on extra warehousing nearby on a short-term lease to supplement our existing RDC,” added Stephenson.
Source: Davies Turner
