Verdion has secured leading independent logistics company Woodland Group for one of its new speculative buildings at iPort.

Woodland Group, one of the largest privately owned global logistics companies, will occupy the 130,458 sq ft distribution facility, iP1b, on a 10-year lease with construction completed and the facility fully operational from this week onwards.

The Group is continuing to expand its footprint across Yorkshire as part of a strategic move to service the growing needs of its existing and new business.

iP1b will be its second building at iPort following a decision to take a 195,000 sq ft fulfilment and distribution warehouse in February last year. Woodland Group also benefits from iPort’s on-site multimodal freight terminal, iPort Rail, as part of their carbon-conscious solution offering, even launching a dedicated new rail service through iPort Rail for its onsite clients.

John Clements, Executive Director at Verdion, said: “Woodland Group is already proving how the combined logistics and rail freight offer at iPort can support businesses seeking a greener, more efficient, supply chain. We’re pleased to be able to prelet this additional unit as part of our wider speculative development programme and look forward to leasing the remaining space this year – there is already significant interest from a range of potential occupiers.”

Luke Fermor, Global Head of Fulfilment, Woodland Group, commented: “The Woodland fulfilment business is seeing large growth with strategic clients who trust us with their complete end to end supply chain solutions. It has been a pleasure working with Verdion to deliver a second facility on the iPort estate which allows us to continue to expand our services out of Doncaster. This new dedicated e-commerce facility gives us the ability to store over 15,000 pallets and 12,000 pick locations all being managed by our state-of-the-art, in-house built WMS. This facility will further drive our aim to deliver sustainable supply chains, and we have extensive plans in place to make it our flagship for sustainable development. The investment we are seeing in the South Yorkshire and Doncaster area is very exciting and we are pleased to be a major provider and employer in the area.”

iP1b is the second of four warehouses completing in 2022 as part of a speculative development programme being undertaken by Verdion. iP2f comprises 174,380 sq ft and is available for occupation. iP1a comprises 116,000 sq ft and completes in June and the largest, iP10, comprises 260,000 sq ft and completes in August. All are designed to EPC A rating and BREEAM Very Good.

The park’s remaining 1.7 million sq ft includes capacity for specialist buildings of up to 800,000 sq ft alongside this speculative space. Other occupiers include Amazon, Fellowes, Lidl, Maritime Transport, Dusk and Kingsbury Press. 

CBRE advised Verdion. Knight Frank acted for Woodland Group. Gent Visick, CBRE and Colliers are the retained leasing agents for iPort.