A vast logistics hub being built in Somerset by defence and aerospace giant Leonardo has reached a major milestone, the company has announced.
The flooring and structure of the £30m building within the grounds of the company's Yeovil site was recently completed, with the business marking the occasion with workers making cement handprints in the floor.
The single-site logistics hub, as it is known, will help support Leonardo Helicopters’ global fleet by housing components and tools, according to the company.
The hub is a collaboration between Leonardo and logistics partner Kuehne+Nagel, with real estate developer Graftongate and GMI Construction Group. The project involved the consolidation of eight existing warehouses into one all-encompassing logistics hub.
Charlea Boucher, project officer at Leonardo Helicopters UK, who cemented her hands into the ground of the hub, said: "It has been amazing to see the rise of the Single-Site Logistics Hub during the final year of my business graduate placement at Leonardo in Yeovil. My great-grandparents worked on-site a few generations ago in engineering, so it’s great that this investment in the site is future-proofing Yeovil for years to come as I embark on the next stages of my career here at Leonardo."
The hub will be equipped with rainwater harvesting tanks for brown-water services, meaning water is recycled for use throughout the building in a non-drinking capacity. It will also have LED lighting throughout the facility and a heat-recovery system that will be used in the main warehouse.
A bank of electric vehicle charging points will be installed, which will support a new fleet of electric commercial vehicles that will distribute components from the hub to the company’s manufacturing facilities.
Leonardo said so far, 61,000 tonnes of demolition material had been moved with 25,000 cubic metres of material re-used for the new building. More than 15,000 cubic metres of earth have also been moved with a total expectation of reaching 25,000 cubic metres, the firm said.
The hub is set to be operational in 2023 and will be run under a 10-year commercial contract with Kuehne+Nagel, which will include an investment in plant and equipment installation and warehousing transition activity.
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