When complete, Northampton Gateway will comprise five million square feet of industrial facilities and a new strategic rail freight interchange (SRFI).
Segro is investing £190m into infrastructure works, including new rail connections, upgrades to junctions 15 and 15a on the M1, a new bridge over the West Coast Mainline, a bypass around Roade, improvements to the A45 and safer junctions along the A508 – all to be built by Winvic under a £107.5m infrastructure works contract.
The 35-acre SRFI will be capable of handling 16 trains a day, each up to 775 metres long. The project has been designated a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP).
Winvic is also carrying out extensive landscaping, creating with more than 80 acres of parkland and amenity grassland with 18km of footpaths and cycleways, 20km of hedgerows and 60,000 new trees planted.
The first plots are scheduled to be ready for warehouse construction to start in late 2021 and infrastructure works are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023.
Winvic has been conducting enabling works for Segro since summer 2020, including ecology, archaeology and geotechnical site investigations to prepare the site ahead.
Activities beginning this month include:
- demolition of existing buildings and removal of vegetation
- moving hedges and badger setts
- exploratory service digging and service diversions
- start of initial earthworks – involving stripping of topsoil and cut and fill – at junction 15 of the M1
- earthworks and water management operations for the warehouse base slabs.
Rob Cook, Winvic’s civils and infrastructure director, said: “Segro is a long-standing client of ours so we’re delighted to have won the Segro Logistics Park Northampton Gateway contract. Our partnership is a proven success on similar large-scale schemes – such as Segro Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway – and Winvic is therefore no stranger to delivering strategic rail freight schemes and managing cross-agency liaison – such as coordinating with local authorities and Highways England to mitigate disruption.
“Apart from this being a significant and exciting project, it’s fantastic be working in the town where our head office is located and to be able to deliver a substantial local employment skills programme with Segro. The enabling works we have managed to date have been delivered to schedule and the team is now very much looking forward to the 2021 main infrastructure phase.”
Segro managing director Andrew Pilsworth added: “Now more than ever we are witnessing the vital role logistics is playing in supporting the UK economy and it’s clear that businesses need well located, sustainable facilities from which they can meet their customers’ demands.”
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