Developer, manager and owner of UK logistics real estate PLP has announced that a 71,800ft² warehouse at its PLP MK logistics park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire has been handed over to meal replacement company Huel.
As reported by Logistics Manager, Huel signed a pre-let agreement with PLP for the facility in August.
Founded by Julian Hearn in June 2015, Huel has grown quickly in the market and expanded its product range, which includes protein powder, protein bars and meal replacement drinks. In 2023, Huel reported a 28% increase in revenue year-on-year, reaching £184.5 million for the 12 months to 31 July 2023.
Ruvan Mendis, Chief Operations Officer at Huel, told Logistics Manager: “We will start warehousing activities in the facility from late February, with manufacturing operations ramping up from June onwards.”
Mendis explained: “On several of our core product ranges, with the recent rapid growth we’ve experienced, we have reached a scale where bringing manufacturing operations in-house makes sense both economically and environmentally.
“We are centralising our raw materials storage together with our production processes as part of this project, and by locating the factory in Milton Keynes, close to our existing distribution hub, we are able to significantly reduce the transportation required within our network.
“The site itself has been built to a high specification with some of the best sustainability credentials in the country and reinforces our commitment to minimising our impact on animals and the environment.
“We’ve looked at all aspects of our recipe creation and packaging requirements and worked with a portfolio of global machinery suppliers to create a state of the art process to maximise efficiency and future capacity.
“The factory has been set up with enough headroom to cater both for future products in our innovation pipeline and for our expected growth over the next 10 years.”
This unit is the first to be leased at PLP MK, which will see 10 units – including the one pre-let to Huel – developed as part of Phase One. These 10 units will total 1.06 million ft². Five units at the site have already been constructed, while the rest are set for completion by the end of January 2024.
PLP describes its Milton Keynes scheme as ‘the first industrial and logistics business park of this scale in the UK to be delivered carbon net-zero in construction’.
Edward Jackson, development director at PLP, said: “We’re very proud of PLP MK. It’s everything a modern, forward-thinking industrial and logistics park should be and we’re delighted to welcome Huel.
“For PLP MK to be an integral part of Huel’s ambitious growth strategy is an endorsement of the PLP MK’s uncompromised specification, design, working environment and ESG credentials. We look forward to seeing them flourish.”
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