Yearsley to create 150 jobs with £20m expansion

FAMILY-owned haulage and cold storage group Yearsley is to invest £20m in expanding its North West base – a move which will create around 150 jobs.

Construction work will begin in June on a 160,000 sq ft facility on a 13.6 acre site at the Hareshill Distribution Park in Heywood, which will provide storage facilities for new customers.

Founded in 1955, Yearsley Group has more than 1,200 employees, and annual turnover of around £120m.

The new unit which will be built and fitted out in three phases. Trafford-based Russells Construction has been appointed to carry out the project, which will see the first two phases, comprising approx 100,000 sq ft, or 27,000 pallet spaces, completed this year.

The remaining floor space and fit out completed in line with future demand.
 
Planning was secured last year for the new unit which is next to Yearsley’s headquarters which currently has a 40,000 pallet capacity.

The new cold store will ultimately provide a further 40,000 pallet spaces, doubling Heywood’s capacity and enabling the company to create a northern ‘superhub’ where stock will be consolidated for more efficient delivery into the UK’s major retailers and food service organisations.
 
Harry Yearsley, managing director of Yearsley Group, said: “The Heywood cold store is currently near to full capacity so the expansion of our operation is in direct response to the demands of new and existing customers for whom this North West location is ideal.

“It will become the first of two national ‘super hubs’ for Yearsley Group, enabling us to consolidate more stock in single, strategically located stores, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing carbon output.
 
“The cold storage and distribution market has developed over recent years and customers at both ends of the supply chain are demanding faster, more efficient, environmentally conscious services from their logistics partners.”
 
The second ‘superhub’ will be strategically located to complement the North West operation and other ‘regional’ depots, and sites in the East and South are being considered.