Tesco expects to increase its use of rail freight when its new distribution centre at the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal opens later this year.
The supermarket’s Daventry Grocery Distribution Centre is due to open in the summer and once fully operational, the 800,000 sq ft centre will be able to handle eight trains a day, taking almost 100,000 lorry journeys off the roads each year.
The new building developed by ProLogis has been rated as “BREEAM excellent”. The design include: roof lights and sun-pipes to provide natural lighting; minimal-energy artificial lighting controlled by natural light and motion sensors; rain water harvesting for both vehicle washing and toilets.
Tony Fletcher, regional corporate affairs manager said: “Not only does the new site provide the space we need to support the future growth of our grocery range, it also delivers major environmental benefits due to its location and on-site rail infrastructure. It will significantly reduce the number of lorries on the roads, saving around 14 million road miles and 19,600 tonnes of Co2 emissions each year.”
Daventry Grocery will replace Tesco’s current grocery distribution centre at Fenny Lock, Milton Keynes which is no longer able to cope with the volume of products that it is required to stock.
