Builders to expand its Waterfall’s centre

LISTED property company Attacq has concluded an agreement with the Builders group to expand their distribution facility in the Waterfall distribution campus in Midrand.

The existing 38 000m² Builders Gauteng Distribution Centre, which has been in operation since April 2013, is to be expanded by 9 618m².

Construction has already commenced and it is expected to be completed by January.

Waterfall is a mixed-use development located between the Allandale and Woodmead off-ramps on both sides of the M1/N1 highway.

Morné Wilken, the chief executive of Attacq, said they were pleased that Builders’ supply chain operations were already realising real business benefits from being in Waterfall’s Logistics Hub.

The distribution centre services all four of the Builders store formats, Builders Warehouse, Builders Express, Builders Trade Depot and Builders Super Store and stores in the greater Gauteng area, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, Bloemfontein, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.

Diane Hoffman, a director of Massbuild Supply Chain, said the Waterfall location was identified as the centre of gravity for this distribution area, because of the easy access to main roads in all directions.

“The expansion of the Builders Gauteng Distribution Centre is a continuation of the fulfilment of Builders’ strategic decision to centralise its supply chain. The additional space will increase the facility’s capacity to support the introduction of new stores both within and beyond South African borders.

“Increased space will also enable the centre to supply the existing stores with a wider range of products via the centralised warehousing and distribution network, thus supporting the stores to service the needs of our customers better,” she said.

Hoffman said increasing throughput was part of the supply chain strategy to ensure the best service possible to all stakeholders and especially their customers.

“In addition to the direct distribution from the Waterfall-based centre, the distribution centre supplies certain stock items nationally via the regional distribution centres based in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,” she said.

Pete Mackenzie, head of development at Attacq, said the business benefits of having a distribution centre situated in Waterfall Logistics Hub not only included giving companies the ability to achieve economies of scale, but the location was also easily accessible to company staff from all areas.

Mackenzie said the strategic positioning also created an excellenAttacq t opportunity for businesses to maximise brand exposure.

“It is one of South Africa’s largest mixed-use developments,” he said.