John Lewis completes build of second Magna Park DC
Gazeley has handed over a 670,000 sq ft ecommerce distribution centre to leading UK retailer John Lewis on time and on budget.
The building, John Lewis’s second at Magna Park Milton Keynes, took 24 weeks to construct and will be occupied on a 30 year lease. Sitting on a 25 acre site, it is connected by a link bridge to the first John Lewis building of 650,000 sq ft also built by Gazeley in 2007.
Both buildings provide John Lewis with over 1.3 million sq ft of floor-space for the fulfilment of its fast expanding omni-channel retail business.
John Lewis operations director Dino Rocos said: “Magna Park Milton Keynes is our flagship UK distribution site and plays a key role in the development of our successful omni-channel distribution strategy. Gazeley are a key partner to the business and have once again demonstrated their ability to deliver on time and on budget for the John Lewis Partnership.”
Gazeley handed the building over to John Lewis on 28th February and the building is currently being fitted out. It is expected to become operational by the spring of 2015 and will employ 450 people from the surrounding area.
The link bridge is one of the largest of its kind in the UK, weighing 153 tonnes and spanning 93 metres, one and a half times the wing span of a Boeing 747.
Gazeley UK country director Alex Verbeek said: “Our relationship with John Lewis goes back many years and we are very pleased to have been chosen again to deliver this brand new facility and fuel their next phase of growth. When fully operational this building will service John Lewis’s fast expanding customer service offer in the UK.”
