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Ocado plans E210m West Midlands DC
OCADO HAS CONFIRMED it will open a 2.210m DC in the West Midlands to service the north of England by the end of 2012.
The online grocery retailer, which floated on the stock market in July (CM 1 July), has paid £17.7m in cash for the 35-acre site on the Birch Coppice Business Park, near Tamworth.
Ocado will construct a 350,000ft2 facility, capable of handling 120,000 orders per week when it opens in late 2012, rising eventually to 180,000.
The firm says the DC will enable it to dou ble business capacity, and better service the Midlands, where it is experiencing strong customer growth. It will complement Ocado 's facility in Hatfield, Herts.
Tim Steiner, CEO at Ocado, says: "Ocado is growing rapidly across the country, and this location ensures we will have capacity to provide more customers with the leading line grocery offering. Upon completion, the new DC will create more than 2,000 jobs in the region."
The expected total cost of the development is £210m, which will be financed through a combination of current reserves and existing banking facilities.