French owned packaging company RAJA has moved into its new 270,000 sq ft warehouse at Prologis’ Marston Gate scheme in Bedfordshire.
Rajapack currently operates out of a 100,000 sq. ft facility on Prologis Park Marston Gate; however, due to a growing requirement for space, the company needed a larger building. Moving away from the area would have resulted in significant business disruption and a loss of local jobs and, therefore, Prologis worked with Rajapack to help the French-owned packaging company realise its ambitions for growth from a Prologis-owned site in the neighbouring area of Brogborough.
The new facility takes the company’s inventory space from 90,000 sq ft in the old warehouse to 267,000 sq ft and also increases racking height by a metre and a half to 13.5m – giving the new site 40,000 pallet bays, five-times more than previously.
The new-build also has 20 HGV docking bays and four level access doors – more than double the number of bays of the old site.
A company spokesperson said: “This is a big step up for RAJA UK and not only makes it possible to offer a wider range of stock right now, but also will ensure future growth needs are met in the years ahead.
“Since 2000 – when the Group launched its first website in France – the business, like many others, is becoming increasingly digital. Web sales now account for a third of our business, email and e-procurement 41% and telephone sales 22%. Digital transformation is well underway.
“As a result, we are focussing on becoming the business supplies provider of choice across Europe with hundreds of thousands of products available to core target customers.”
The new build also provides an extra 14,000 sq ft of office space over the old building. While this 24,000 sq ft was not originally ear-marked to be used straight away, it has proved perfect for accommodating existing staff in a socially distanced way during lockdown.
The move to the new warehouse, a vital part of RAJA UK’s long term growth strategy, was also undertaken to make the business more sustainable. The new site has several features that are expected of a modern sustainable building.
