Interest comes to a head in Heineken’s £45m warehouse

Brewing giant Heineken has unveiled its multi-million-pound state-of-the-art national distribution centre at Derby Commercial Park.

The 623,000 sq ft warehouse and logistics centre has the surface area of six football pitches and could be used to park 10 Boeing 747’s.

On racking as tall as three double-decker buses, £75 million of stock can be stored.

Representing an investment of £45 million, the building has been designed and built to supply the needs of national off-trade customers such as supermarkets.

The site has been developed by property giant Goodman while the warehouse operation will be managed by Heineken’s long-term distribution partner Kuehne and Nagel Drinks Logistics as part of a ten-year deal.

The centre is a centralised stockholding point for brands including Foster’s, Strongbow, Bulmers, Heineken, Dronenbourg 1664 and Desperados.  Now operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  It is around twice as big as the brewer’s Dove Valley site, has a separate HGV trailer park and fuel and vehicle wash equipment.

Paul Hoffman, senior customer service and logistics director said: “Kuehne and Nagel Drinks Logistics has been a joint venture partner since 2006 and we have been working together to create this modern site that will give us both flexibility and the ability to respond swiftly to demand.

“It will streamline our service to customers, as there will be one dispatch point, reduced stock movements and simplified order management.

“Importantly, this is also a more environmentally friendly operation, too as we’ll no longer need to move stock between numerous smaller distribution centres.”

Nick Hosking, of commercial property firm Innes England, is Goodman’s letting agent on the Derby Commercial Park and worked on the deal to bring Heineken to the Derby Commercial Park.

He said: “This pre-let is the largest ever within Derby and firmly plants us on the regional distribution map.

“Goodman have plans for a further major distribution facility of 550,000 sq ft but also has the capacity to accommodate smaller warehousing requirements from the local marketplace.

“The Heineken letting has really kick-started interest and discussions are well advanced with a number of other parties.”