Plans for a huge DHL warehouse at a major East Midlands logistics park have been given the go-ahead.
At a meeting of North West Leicestershire District Council’s planning committee this week, the proposals for the 670,000 sq ft building at the SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway, near Castle Donington, were approved.
Councillors passed the scheme despite some concerns being raised about the height of the building.
Last month, it was reported that SEGRO had agreed a pre-let with DHL for the new building, which will be set on a plot of almost 34 acres.
It is understood that DHL intends to service a contract for an international food manufacture from the site.
According to the original planning application, which was submitted in April by PHP Architects, the building requires a temperature-controlled storage area.
This means the building will be taller than other buildings already on the East Midlands Gateway site, which are occupied by major names, including Amazon, Very, XPO Logistics and Kuehne and Nagel.
The plans state: “The high bay area is an essential and integral component of the building’s design and function.
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“It enables the unit to provide a temperature-controlled storage area, which is vital for the goods proposed to be located within the warehouse.
“The proposed warehouse will form a strategic multi-user warehouse. The occupier’s original scope was to create three warehouses: one to be located in the South with two in the Midlands.
“However, by increasing the capacity at East Midlands Gateway, through the delivery of the high bay area, the need for the third warehouse, elsewhere in the Midlands, has been eliminated, effectively bringing the economic benefits of two units to north-west Leicestershire.”
The new facility will have 474 car parking spaces and 121 HGV spaces. It is hoped that construction would start in late 2020 with completion set for the first quarter of 2022.
The plans said: “The jobs provided through the development will be extremely important, particularly in the context of the current economic (and social) circumstances.
“When we emerge from the current situation, the economy will need to be ‘kick started’ and development providing employment benefits will play a key role in boosting the economy and getting the country back on its feet again.”
East Midlands Gateway is so far proving a major success story for the region. Located close to East Midlands Airport and the M1 motorway, it is served by its own rail freight interchange.
Once complete, it will provide six million sq ft of space and create thousands of jobs.