Lineage Logistics, a leading temperature-controlled industrial real estate investment trusts (REIT) and logistics solutions provider based in Novi, today announced the completion of the expansion of its Heywood Northern Superhub advanced cold storage facility in Manchester, United Kingdom.
“Recent months have seen the importance of the temperature-controlled sector in the economy highlighted and, as the country starts to re-open, we have seen demand rise to higher than pre-COVID-19 levels,” says Tim Moran, regional vice president of Lineage in the UK.
The facility will provide storage for major food manufacturing, service, and retail brands. The facility is 425,000 square feet of space and 78,000 pallets. This is part of the three-phase expansion of Lineage’s original facility into a northern superhub, with prior phases adding 100,000 square feet and 28,000 pallets.
The site combines a new single-skin cold store to the traditional ‘box-in-box’ design to ensure the integrity of the minus 30-degree temperature while maximizing the internal area and pallet space capacity. Energy management systems allow the facility to operate with 75 percent operational energy cost savings compared to similar facilities, and the materials and mechanical systems used help reach strict carbon reduction targets.
Another focus of the upgraded facility is to ensure the integrity of the cold chain. Lineage says a balance had to be struck between temperature integrity, dehumidification, reduction in energy use, and seamless movement between chambers. To ensure food security, Lineage focused on temperature-controlled loading areas, insulation, fast-closing door seals and the management of construction work alongside the existing operational chamber.
The company is also in the process of expanding its southern superhub near London. In total, the company will operate six automated warehouses with a total of 330,000 pallet positions while creating 220 new jobs in the U.K.
“Lineage is continuing to meet customer demands with an ongoing national expansion program, both nationally and across Europe, and the timely completion of the final phase at Heywood is very welcome,” says Moran.
Lineage has a global network of over 350 facilities totaling over 2 billion cubic feet of capacity which spans 15 countries across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
