Farnell to stay in city with new £60m site
TECHNOLOGY DISTRIBUTOR Premier Farnell is to invest £60m in a new 360,000 sq ft warehouse at the Logic Leeds business park, retaining £650m in revenue and hundreds of jobs in the Yorkshire region.
The investment follows a European wide search for a new home for Premier Farnell as it has outgrown its current facilities in Armley in Leeds.
Nick Wilkins, chief supply chain officer at Premier Farnell, said: “We looked at a number of sites in and outside the UK.
“We decided the best thing for the infrastructure, and the people we have, is to keep our Leeds location.
“Our current site is too small and it’s over 20 years old. We looked at expanding the site, but we couldn’t fit in a big enough warehouse.”
Logic Leeds business park is 5.2 miles away from the current site in Armley.
Premier Farnell is now working with Leeds City Council and the Local Planning Authority to agree the future of the Armley site and to develop transport solutions for employees moving to the new site.
“We are working with the local council to make things as easy as possible. The new site is near the ‘Park and Ride’ and we have 330 parking spaces at the new site,” said Mr Wilkins.
Premier Farnell hopes that as many employees as possible will move over to the new site. It currently employs around 530 people in Armley.
“As we grow, new jobs will be created,” said Mr Wilkins.
The new site will stock over 420,000 products and has the potential for up to one million square feet of distribution capacity as the Leeds-based business responds to market growth opportunities.
Premier Farnell said the site will be the largest ever warehouse development in Leeds city area and will support jobs in the region.
The site is based off junction 45 of the M1.
Graham McBeth, president of Premier Farnell, said: “This is a significant investment in a modern, automated warehouse, made possible by the opportunities for growth in the market and the support of our American parent company, Avnet.
“I am delighted that we are retaining our presence in Leeds.”
Mr Wilkins added: “Premier Farnell has a strong history in the Leeds area and we have great confidence in the Yorkshire workforce.
“This new warehouse, with great transport links, retains jobs in the region and will allow us to grow to support market demand.”
Logic Leeds sits within one of the Leeds City region Enterprise Zones which is supported by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Leeds City Council, the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Muse Developments has partnered up with Bowmer and Kirkland to build the state-of-the-art distribution warehouse. Works started earlier this month with completion scheduled for the end of the year. The site is expected to be operational by late 2019 or early 2020.
Roger Marsh, chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “We are delighted that Premier Farnell will enhance their high service distribution of technology products and solutions from what will be the largest ever warehouse development in Leeds.
“Our key industrial sectors are changing rapidly and the ability to embrace and adopt fast emerging digital technology and the Internet of Things, whereby computing devices are embedded in everyday objects to send and receive data, will improve our productivity and define our future economic identity.
“This decision means Premier Farnell – a global tech leader – can sit at the heart of this opportunity and pioneer this strategy from Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone.”
420,000 The number of products that will be stocked at Premier Farnell’s new warehouse at Logic Leeds.