Firm picked to work on 238-acre global hub
THE developer behind a global hub for Jaguar Land Rover has picked Winvic Construction to help it deliver the scheme.
IM Properties is working with Winvic to deliver Mercia Park – a 238-acre warehousing and distribution site being built at Appleby Magna.
It will include a 2.94 million sq ft global parts distribution centre for Jaguar Land Rover and a 450,000 sq ft logistics hub for freight forwarder DSV.
In total, there will be about 3,400 people working there.
The JLR parts centre will include six buildings, ranging from 30,000 sq ft to just over one million sq ft, so it can bring together the operations of 19 existing warehouses in 10 UK locations.
The car maker said the change will help cut lorry movements by up to 25 per cent.
Winvic is working with IM Properties’ in-house project delivery team to carry out the work, which is being funded by Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).
Jason Jasper, UK project director for IM Properties, said: “This is not only the largest single-occupier deal ever to be agreed and funded but a major planning, construction and project delivery accomplishment.
“We’ve taken a 238-acre site from zero to development-ready in four years.
“To date IM Properties has invested more than £70 million in the Mercia Park development, including planning, civils and infrastructure, which demonstrates IM Properties’ ability to promote and invest in bringing forward much-needed employment sites.
“Typically a scheme of this scale would be delivered in separate phases over a five to 10-year period.
“After years of investment and hard work, it will be exciting to see all six buildings come out of the ground at the same time.
“We have worked hard with Winvic and our supply chain to manage the logistical challenges that come with building this volume at the same time, together with managing a phased handover of the development to JLR.
“This for me exemplifies what IM Properties is about as a company and developer – agile, focused and all the time looking to be the best we can.
“We’re planting 85,000 trees and creating 30 acres of woodland, equivalent to nearly one-third of the site, including many semi-mature tree varieties, with recreational paths, cycleways and wetland features incorporated.
“Eighteen projects have also already been identified and awarded £90,000 from IM Properties’ £350,000 Mercia Park Community Fund, which range from grassroot projects such as restoring ponds and pathways to buying goalposts and equipment for a girls’ football team.”
Andrew Reynolds, project director at IM Properties, said: “Winvic share our ability to push the boundaries to find more sustainable, low-carbon ways of working and engage with the community to boost skills and training and deliver an extremely ambitious and complex scheme to the highest of standards.”
Danny Nelson, director and head of industrial at Winvic, said: “We have been on an incredible journey with IM Properties to date, working on numerous projects, but schemes of this nature don’t come around too often and so Mercia Park is one we are very proud to be a part of.
“To be selected by IM Properties as the delivery partner on a project of this size, scale and importance is testament to the relationship that has been cultivated over many years.”