Work starts on Pets at Home’s storage and distribution centre

Stoford has broken ground on the site of Pets at Home’s newnational storage and distribution centre in Staffordshire.

The pet care business has signed a 20-year lease on the purpose-built facility at Stafford North Business Park, close to Jct 14 of the M6.

Tesco Pension Fund is forward funding the new development, which is expected to employ more than 750 people when it opens in the summer of 2022.

The BREEAM excellent building will deliver a gross internal floor area of 670,000 sq ft, with an additional 100,000 sq ft of expansion land available if required.

Facilities will include two double-storey hub offices of 5,600 sq ft and a recycling store, tote store and a gatehouse detached from the main building.

Stoford has awarded the building contract to McLaren Construction Group.

The national storage and distribution centre is part of the first phase of development on a 70-acre site at Stafford North Business Park.

The site will benefit from an additional £9m investment in the road and utilities infrastructure, including a new roundabout on the A34 at Redhill, north of Stafford, that will open up further phases of development.

Stoford joint managing director, Dan Gallagher, said: “We have worked closely with Pets at Home and Tesco Pension Fund to develop this exciting new scheme that will sustain local jobs in Staffordshire. We will deliver a modern national storage and distribution centre, with a first-class design that has sustainability at its core. We are also making a significant investment in the infrastructure at Stafford North Business Park to allow us to develop the facility into one of the region’s leading employment sites.”

Pets at Home chief executive, Peter Pritchard, said: “Today marks a major milestone in the next step on our journey and a significant investment that will help enable our colleagues to better serve our customers right across the country. For us, pets always come first and I am really proud that this project not only sees the development of a state-of-the-art national distribution centre that will allow us to create efficiencies throughout our supply chain, but it also brings with it brand new nature walks and safe dog walking areas for colleagues and local residents to enjoy.”

Colliers acted on behalf of Pets at Home and Stoford was represented by M1 and JLL.

Gerald Eve acted for Tesco Pension Fund on the development funding.

CAPTION: (Foreground L-R) Dan Gallagher, Stoford Joint Managing Director; Pets at Home Chief Executive, Peter Pritchard; and Andrew Howard, Operations Director at McLaren Construction Group, with colleagues from Stoford, Pets at Home and McLaren Construction Group in the background. 

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close