Prologis to develop new distribution park in London

Global logistics firm Prologis said on Friday it plans to develop a new 2.1 million sq ft (186,000 m2) rail-served distribution park in southeast London. Park Howbury will be developed on a 158-acre site and will consist of an intermodal facility and four large-scale industrial warehouses.

Prologis said that the park is the first of several rail-served distribution parks the company plans to develop at key road and rail intersections throughout the UK. Construction on the park is expected to begin early this year.

The UK government announced support for sustainable distribution within the country. This includes the transfer of the transportation of goods from road to rail freight as a fundamental requirement. The new park to be built by Prologis will also involve specific environmental design techniques such as photovoltaic panels to harvest solar energy.

'Companies with logistics requirements are increasingly realizing the environmental, commercial and operational advantages of moving product by rail,' said Andrew Griffiths, managing director for Prologis in the UK. 'Rail freight produces less greenhouse gas emissions, provides fuel cost savings and reduces delays related to congested road travel. We believe that rail freight is important to the future of the logistics industry in the UK.'

Prologis Park Howbury will be the third rail freight interchange owned by Prologis in the UK. The company also owns and manages Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), a 2 million-sq ft park and ProLogis Park Coventry, a 1.5 million-sq ft located in the West Midlands. Prologis is a leading UK provider of industrial distribution facilities, with approximately 17.4 million sq ft of industrial space owned, managed and under development.