UK Mail has secured a freehold land sale and development management agreement with Prologis for a 231,000 sq ft mail sorting facility that will include a 36,330 sq ft head office building at Prologis Park Ryton in the West Midlands
UK Mail will be moving to Ryton from its current location in Birmingham, which has been compulsorily purchased by the Department of Transport for HS2, the new high-speed rail route between London, the Midlands and Northern England.
The purpose-built hub, which will have the capacity to accommodate UK Mail’s continued growth, will allow the group to further automate its parcel operations. With the installation of new automated sortation equipment, UK Mail plans to increase the proportion of parcels it handles automatically from 20 per cent to around 80 per cent.
“Prologis Park Ryton was selected following an extensive search of real estate in the West Midlands area,” said UK mail chief Guy Buswell. “We have worked closely with Prologis to design a state-of-the-art facility that will support our business growth and help us maintain our position as the leading parcel carrier in the UK.”
The new facility, of which construction will begin in early 2014, has been designed to achieve a minimum BREEAM 2011 ‘very good’ accreditation and the best Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating possible for its size.
“We are pleased to have met UK Mail’s requirements for a new national hub at Prologis Park Ryton,” said Andrew Griffiths, managing director, Prologis UK. “The park, which is strategically located at the heart of the UK motorway network, is attracting a high level of interest. The UK Mail facility follows closely behind buildings for Network Rail, Hi Logistics, and Freeman, as well as a 225,000 square foot speculative unit that is currently under construction.”
North Rae Sanders, Jones Lang LaSalle and Gerald Eve acted for Prologis.
