Leading parcel delivery company DPD has announced a £150m investment to create a new parcel hub in Hinckley, Leicestershire, that will generate 750 jobs.
Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council has granted planning permission for a new 82 acre employment park, close to junction 1 of the M69, proposed by IM Properties. DPD, who deliver parcels for the biggest names in UK retailing, will develop a 39 acre site within the park, including the 503m long, 276,454 sq ft main hub building.
The new hub will be DPD’s fifth in the UK and will be located just 2 miles from the firm’s Hub 4 and International Gateway in Sketchley, which both opened in 2015. Hub 5 will be capable of handling 71,000 parcels an hour, increasing DPD’s total overnight parcel sorting capacity by 60%.
Building work is likely to commence in October of this year and the facility should be operational by October 2020.
The new investment follows a period of sustained growth for DPD, driven by the boom in online shopping in the UK and DPD’s own investment in market leading tech. DPD’s unique one-hour delivery slot service, Predict means that all customers receive notification of their delivery slot in advance, along with a series of ‘in-flight options’ so they can always make arrangements for their delivery, even if they aren’t going to be home.
Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO commented, “I am delighted to announce this very significant investment in new jobs and infrastructure. We are continuing to experience strong growth in demand for our services, which is why we are announcing another massive hub project less than three years after we opened hub 4. In that time, we have seen seismic changes in retail behaviour in the UK, with major events like Black Friday creating bigger and longer periods of high demand at different times during the year, and then Christmas itself becoming even more of an online retail focused event.
“We have invested hugely in our infrastructure nationwide over the last six years, moving our older depots to brand new, larger and purpose-built facilities or upgrading them to state-of-the-art 60,000 sq ft distribution centres. And by 2020 we will have built three of the largest overnight sorting hubs in Europe. That level of unprecedented investment is what ensures we stay ahead of the chasing pack and gives us the capacity to support our retail customers for many years to come.
“We’ve developed really strong links with the area and it is fantastic to be able to invest again in Hinckley. A large part of that decision is based on the excellent workforce here and knowing that we can recruit a good quality team locally was key for us. We already know that the location works brilliantly for us and, having the two hubs and our International Gateway in such proximity will give us a huge amount of flexibility.”
Bill Cullen, Chief Executive of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council said: “This significant investment in DPD’s new super-hub along with new manufacturing and logistics development in this £225m Employment Park will bring significant job opportunities as well as apprenticeship opportunities to the local area, both during construction and in the new facilities being provided. It will generate significant economic benefit to the area, improve public transport provision and underpin the Council’s aspirations for enhancing the prosperity of the Borough for the benefit of our local communities. I look forward to further developing our relationship with DPD and with other key occupiers on the site to ensure our communities experience maximum benefit from the scheme.”
