McLaren Construction has been selected to build a four-story last mile logistics hub for Southwark and central London. The firm was appointed by British Land.

The first of a new generation of multi-storey logistics hubs by British Land, the 140,000 square foot building on a 0.78 hectare site on Mandela Way is designed for a unique blend of industrial and logistics. Stacking logistics space over multiple floors allows the building to be subdivided, multi-tenanted and adaptable to future trends and climates.

The ground floor provides access for a variety of distribution vehicles, including HGVs and cargo bikes. The building is served by 5 goods lifts, a further 3 lifts for cycles and cargo bikes and 6 passenger lifts.

McLaren’s contract includes plant, landscaping, access, vehicle and cycle parking. Building services works are limited to give maximum flexibility to future tenants, meaning around 90% of the build is shell and core only with the remainder built to a CAT A office fitout.

The BREEAM Excellent design includes low carbon materials and 1,470 square metres of rooftop photovoltaics above a mix of green and blue roofs, the latter collecting for a grey water system. The total biodiversity net gain for the former car pound site is 167%, which includes creation of an ecological corridor alongside a residential boundary.

David Gavin, managing director for industrial and logistics at McLaren, commented: “We are seeing a new generation of clever industrial buildings that stack light industrial, warehouse and distribution space to keep a broader range of jobs in urban areas and serve demand for last-mile distribution space. If there’s one thing they have in common, it’s that they maximise their use of tight urban sites, requiring ingenuity and careful planning for the plant and materials we need for construction.”

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