Prologis, the UK’s leading developer and owner of logistics parks, has agreed a lease with Dunelm Group Plc, for a new warehousing facility on its Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) development in the East Midlands – the UK’s leading rail-served logistics park.
Dunelm is one of the country’s leading homeware retailers, operating 174 shops across the UK. The company will take a 10-year lease on a new logistics building at DIRFT, totaling 189,214 sq. ft. with the furnishings giant set to move in once construction completes in September this year. The move supports Dunelm’s focus on innovating and improving its customer proposition, as well as the growth in home delivery and click & collect operations as a result of the pandemic.
Classed as a nationally-significant infrastructure project, DIRFT is one of the most successful intermodal (road/rail) logistics parks in the UK. From its location in the logistics ‘golden triangle’, at the heart of the UK’s motorway and rail network, the site has excellent road links to the M1 and M6 motorways, and to the West Coast Main Line. Home to household names such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco, the site’s transport links have played a significant role in keeping goods and services flowing around the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Prologis has a longstanding relationship with Dunelm, so it’s brilliant to be working with the company again and helping to expand its operations at DIRFT. Tom Price, capital deployment and leasing associate at Prologis UK, said: “To let DC4 in advance of the building’s completion shows just how strong demand in the market is for well-located logistics facilities, close to vital road and rail links.”
Dunelm’s new building will also reflect the company’s ambitious targets around sustainability and carbon reduction, with a target EPC ‘A’ rating and features such as 15% roof lights, rainwater harvesting, and LED lighting. The building has also had its environmental credentials certified by The Planet Mark and is mitigating 100% of the embodied carbon involved in its construction. Thanks to Prologis’ partnership with climate action charity, Cool Earth, the construction of DIRFT III DC4 will help protect 136 acres of rainforest, over 30,000 trees, and support 652 people in Sololo, Southern Papua New Guinea.
Steve Barton, director of property at Dunelm Group PLC, said: “We are very pleased to expand our operations to DC4 at DIRFT and work with Prologis again in fulfilment of a key logistics requirement.”
