Prologis is to complete its existing Heathrow industrial park with the speculative build of two logistics facilities totalling almost 140,000sq ft.
Prologis Park Heathrow, close to Junction 4 of the M4 motorway, is just over a mile from the main airport and was designed as a three-stage project with a completed floor space of 436,000sq ft. The first two phases are now fully let to customers such as Gate Gourmet, City Link and Heathrow Airport Holdings.
The final stage will see construction work start this spring on two buildings of 102,900sq ft and 36,270sq ft. The larger warehouse will have the option of being configured as either one facility or as two semi-detached units of 41,600sq ft and 61,300sq ft. In keeping with the estate’s other properties, both new buildings will be surrounded by a 50-metre deep loading and security area.
“We are continuing to invest in strategic locations in London and the South East with the aim of offering our customers the best portfolio of distribution facilities in Great Britain,” said Andrew Griffiths, managing director of Prologis UK, which is the country’s largest provider of industrial property. It currently owns or manages around twenty-million square feet of logistics and distribution space.
“There is a shortage of new facilities in this size range near Heathrow Airport and there is a strong level of demand from occupiers who want new logistics facilities within a short timeframe,” added Griffiths. “We anticipate the new buildings will attract a high level of interest from both existing and potential customers.”
One of the biggest and most complicated contracts at the Heathrow park was for the now renamed airport operators BAA plc, which needed a cost-efficient, high security, off-site consolidation centre to service its expanding network of retail and service stores. During the joint design process both companies contributed to a state-of-the-art CCTV security system giving full coverage to both the outside and interior ambient, chilled and frozen storage areas of the 56,000sq ft building.
“We are delighted with the new centre,” said Paul Smolas, head of BAA’s retail division. “It has meant that we can build on our previous success by consolidating all Heathrow retail deliveries including those for Terminal 5.”
Each week 1,680 deliveries a week are accepted into the centre’s 19 loading bays. A fleet of 341 vehicles then makes almost 2,500 delivery runs to Heathrow Airport Holdings’ 185 airport outlets. “Consolidating this into one facility not only brings down transport and operational costs, but also reduces the environmental impact of delivery traffic on the airport and the surrounding area,” Smolas added.
