Heathrow touches down at East Midlands Gateway
SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway (“East Midlands Gateway”) along with its partners at North West Leicestershire District council, is bidding to be one of the four Heathrow Airport Logistics Hubs across the UK, which would see the materials and components needed to construct an expanded airport manufactured and pre-assembled on site in the East Midlands.
A delegation from Heathrow Airport visited the 700 acre site as part of a tour of 65 locations still under consideration. The tour, which was significantly the last of the 65, was jointly hosted by SEGRO, the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) and the North West Leicestershire District Council. Local MP, Andrew Bridgen, also attended to support the bid.
The Logistics Hubs, which feature in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, will help ensure that businesses across the UK can form part of the airport’s supply chain, enabling Heathrow’s new runway to deliver a nationwide legacy of construction excellence.
The location at East Midlands Gateway would provide unrivalled connectivity by road, rail and air. The development provides access to the UK’s road network via Junction 24 and 24A of the M1, and will open a new 50 acre rail freight link in 2019. The development, commonly referred to as an ‘inland port’, is also located adjacent to East Midlands Airport, the UK’s second largest air freight hub.
North West Leicestershire, which is home to the East Midlands Gateway, is a vibrant district with a growing economy located in the heart of the National Forest. It is a great place to do business, live or visit with beautiful countryside blended together with modern industry and commerce. The four major cities of Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham are in close proximity to the district and an estimated 70% of the population of Great Britain live within a two hour drive.
Bev Smith, Chief Executive of North West Leicestershire District Council, said:
“We’re privileged to live in a part of the country that is so well connected – with the M1, A50 and A42 converging, the airport and soon the rail link offering huge reach to our regional businesses.
“We already have a significant number of key businesses located in the area, with the new logistics hub attracting more big names. And we have an excellent skill base, with universities and businesses playing a huge part in providing workers for the region’s needs today and into the future.
“A Heathrow regional logistics hub would benefit from these excellent connections, businesses and skills in our region.”
Andrew Pilsworth, SEGRO’s National Logistics Business Unit Director, said:
“As a long term partner of Heathrow Airport we are committed to helping deliver the most successful and sustainable airport in the world.
“Working in collaboration with our local partners, we believe we have made a very strong case for East Midlands Gateway to be one of the Heathrow Logistics Hubs.
“The site not only offers unrivalled scale and connectivity, but businesses based here can draw on a strong manufacturing skills base, a talented pipeline from six universities and a huge potential workforce across the nearby cities of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.”
Andrew Bridgen, Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire, said:
“The prospect of my constituency potentially hosting an important Heathrow Logistics Hub is very positive for the East Midlands. Heathrow expansion has benefits across the UK, as demonstrated by the opportunities it could bring to our region.”
About Heathrow Logistics Hubs
Heathrow will be the first major infrastructure project in the UK to pioneer the large-scale use of logistics hubs – aiming to build as much of the project off-site as possible. The hubs will work by pre-assembling components off-site before transporting them in consolidated loads to Heathrow just as they are needed. This method will boost the project’s efficiency and cut emissions by transporting components to site in fewer lorries. Research by WPI Economics earlier this year revealed that integrating an offsite manufacturing supply chain into a major project has the potential to reduce the overall cost of the project by as much as 25% whilst speeding up delivery by up to 30%.
About SEGRO
SEGRO is a UK Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), and a leading owner, manager and developer of modern warehouses and light industrial property. It owns or manages 6.9 million square metres of space (74 million square feet) valued at over £10 billion serving customers from a wide range of industry sectors. Its properties are located in and around major cities and at key transportation hubs in the UK and in nine other European countries.