Work has started on a third British depot for German-based parcel delivery company DPD (UK). All three are being designed and delivered by regeneration specialist St Modwen.
With construction well underway on two other distribution hubs at Skypark in Exeter and Etruria Valley near Stoke-on-Trent, the latest £12m project is being built at Stonebridge Park, Liverpool. The 69,000s q ft facility, which will create at 250 jobs, is being developed in co-operation with the city council and will serve the entire Merseyside region.
On completion of its new depot early next year, DPD will take a 25-year lease. As part of the deal with the local authority St Modwen will then submit a further application for up to 70,000 sq ft of industrial units on the same site.
The first stage of St Modwen’s regeneration of the brownfield Stonebridge Park site was carried out as a four-way partnership between Liverpool Vision, the Government Office North West and the now defunct North West Regional Development Agency which the coalition Government replaced with Local Enterprise Partnerships. All four units, totalling 57,500 sq ft, are now fully let to companies that include Liverpool Mutual Homes, Eurofood and the National Safety Council.
Steven Knowles is a regional director at St Modwen. He said the DPD scheme — which fronts the city’s East Lancashire Road — would “not only bring investment and employment opportunities to the region, but also signifies the return to growth in Liverpool … Stonebridge Park is a big milestone and one of several key developments that demonstrate our continued commitment to the Merseyside area”.
The city’s mayor, Joe Anderson, commented: “This is a significant and important investment in a part of the city that we are working hard to regenerate.
“The first phase of Stonebridge Park was a great success story and shows that Liverpool is open for business and how we are working hard everyday to attract investment.”
Work also started this month on a 60,000 sq ft DPD facility in Stoke-on-Trent that will replace the courier’s existing facility in neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme. “Etruria Valley offers us a strategic location at the heart of the West Midlands and national motorway network, with quick and easy access to the M6 motorway,” explained DPD chief executive, Dwain McDonald, who added that during seasonal rushes at least 250 vans would use the depot to deliver more than 35,000 Christmas parcels.
And last year St Modwen was granted permission for a 60,000 sq ft DPD depot at the £210m Skypark north of Exeter Airport. The flagship distribution centre is part of the initial development of the 1.4-million sq ft business park.
“Having DPD choose Skypark as its operational base for its West Country distribution is testament to this location and the significant investment we have put in over the past year with our joint venture partners, Devon County Council,” commented the developers senior regional development manager, Ian Guy.
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