Home Bargains has commenced construction on a new distribution centre, which will supply more than 300 stores by the middle of 2028.
The start of work on the distribution centre “marks a significant milestone in the expansion of TJ Morris’ national distribution network” the company said. Construction is expected to complete by October next year.
The Doncaster site will span around a million square feet and is designed to “enhance logistics efficiency, create new job opportunities, and support Home Bargains’ expansion plans”.
The facility – being built by McLaren Construction - will be highly automated, and utilise order picking technology from Witron. Home Bargains said once the site was up and running it would be “one of the most automated operations in the UK”.
Once operational, the facility will create 1,000 new jobs in the region.
The Doncaster DC has the same design as Home Bargains’ one in St Helens, Merseyside, which becomes operational in May 2025. It too is highly automated, with all product groups and logistics areas – from receiving to truck loading – integrated end-to-end into a “highly automated overall process”. All processes are controlled by an intelligent warehouse management system from Witron. The site features 470,000 pallet, tray, and tote storage locations, 104 stacker cranes, as well as more than 15 kilometres of conveyors.
“In addition to the benefits for consumers in the stores, a decisive criterion for TJ Morris was the focus on the employees who will work in the logistics centre in the future,” said Duncan Pointon, Witron’s UK sales manager. “They will benefit from state-of-the-art, ergonomic workstations, which is an enormous competitive advantage in times of labour shortages.
“In addition, the issue of sustainability, is addressed in many different ways – for example through significant CO2 savings due to densely packed load carriers, optimal truck utilisation, and fewer trucks on the roads. Furthermore, through space savings in construction and by significantly reducing excess goods, breakage, and waste.”
In January, in its latest financial year results, Home Bargains reported double-digit growth in turnover and soaring profits as it added more stores to its estate.
The variety discounter ended the period with 617 retail outlets, 23 more than a year earlier.
The long-term goal for the retailer is to grow the store estate to between 800 and 1,000 outlets, with more openings planned in the year to 30 June 2025, according to the company’s accounts.
Home Bargains is also set to open a new “highly automated” one million sq ft distribution centre at Omega Business Park, St Helens, Merseyside, in spring this year, in a £400m investment.
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