Many companies in the UK are demanding storage space located in The Golden Triangle of Logistics in the English Midlands to minimise transport costs and serve the entire UK at speed. To meet these needs, DSV is now adding another new warehouse to its logistics portfolio at Brackmills in Northampton, close to the M1 motorway and ready for new clients Q2 2023.
With its impressive 380,000 sq ft, the new building will be one of the largest in DSV’s Midlands portfolio. The completion of Brackmills Gateway’s construction work means a significant increase in DSV’s UK footprint.
The large integrated office building was designed and executed to meet DSV’s global standard with high spec, open plan, and functional office spaces. The prominent design features to the main office include a living wall, wood-panelled design features in an oak finish and an inclusive gym space. The external works package included 354,757 sq ft of yard space, covered bicycle parking, and 66 electric chargers to support DSV’s move towards sustainability for all.
“Brackmills Gateway is an important milestone in DSV’s ambitious growth plans within the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare sector in the UK and Europe,” says Stuart Evans, Senior Director for Operations South DSV Solutions in the UK. “This investment will allow us the space and infrastructure to welcome new clients in to the DSV family, as well as allowing our existing partners to grow. This has been a huge team effort from the whole DSV Solutions project group, and we are excited to see the site develop over the coming weeks and months.”
As the DSV Brackmills Gateway solution will be available to multiple users at the same time, it is particularly well suited for both large and small Healthcare companies that need to be able to scale their stocks quickly, to match their growth. In the other part of the building, there is standard wide aisle racking which is well suited to clients who have high-volume fast-moving goods.
BREEAM certification
The project has been designed and constructed in accordance with the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) under the 2018 framework to achieve excellence in respect of water and energy efficiency.
To name a few initiatives, rainwater harvesting will be used for flushing toilets to reduce consumption of potable water, sustainable drainage systems have been implemented as well as solar photovoltaics for electrical power contribution. High-performance LED lighting supported by motion sensors have been installed, reducing the total power demand whilst meeting best practice.
As part of the Brackmills Gateway site wide scheme beyond the site boundary, there is the creation of landscape buffers and large-scale planting using native woodland species, planting for wildlife habitat and wildflower buffers, roosting boxes for bats and nesting boxes for birds.
Provisional calculations from DSV’s partner in the project, Ivegate, show that the solar cells and battery solution can reduce carbon emissions by up to 42% relative to a scenario without solar cells and battery. The battery stores solar energy during the day, so that the energy can also be used during the evening and night. Any excess generation of solar energy during the day, can be supplied to the national power grid.
With the current solution, the annual carbon emission reduction will amount to approximately 216 tonnes of CO2 annually, which is equal to the annual heating and electricity consumption of 42 homes of 135 m2.
