Prologis UK has secured a 10-year lease with Cainiao, a global ecommerce logistics provider and part of Alibaba Group, marking a significant expansion of its UK operations. Prologis Apex Park DC4’s recent refurbishment was delivered with a strong focus on sustainability, featuring advanced LED lighting, a solar PV array and EV
Plans have been submitted for phase one of East Bank Urban Village – one of Hull’s largest ever regeneration projects – which is set to breathe life back into the East Bank of the River Hull through the creation of a sustainable new neighbourhood. Hull City Council, working in collaboration
Vanguard Self Storage, one of the UK’s leading independent self-storage companies, has confirmed significant progress on its new Maidenhead branch, scheduled for handover in August and opening in September 2026 – exactly one year after the project was first announced. This development marks Vanguard’s tenth location in England, expanding its
McLaughlin & Harvey has completed the construction of a major new academic facility at the University of Edinburgh, marking another milestone in the ongoing transformation of the institution’s King’s Buildings Campus. The new Engineering Forum building, which will house the School of Engineering’s Institute for Energy Systems, provides 6,500 sq
Between December 2025 and February 2026, UK GDP grew by 0.5%; however, unlike services and production, which grew by 0.5% and 1.2% respectively, construction fell by 2.0%. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The economy is in a stronger place than many presumed; however, growth
Work has started in Hamilton to deliver 142 new homes, representing a £42 million investment from top 10 housebuilder Keepmoat. Set to transform the former Bell College site, Keepmoat will deliver a mixed tenure scheme, including 36 affordable homes in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council. The much needed development will
Nearly half of Spacemaker’s installations run in freezer and cold storage environments, serving food, beverage, and pharmaceutical operators across the United States. Having completed nearly 50 cold storage facilities, you stop theorizing about what works and start knowing. Spacemaker has been deploying pallet shuttle systems in sub-zero, freezer-grade, and cold
wienerberger UK & Ireland has delivered the first pilot of its Trades of Tomorrow programme, a three‑day initiative designed to help care‑experienced young people explore careers in construction while responding to the industry’s long‑term skills challenge. Developed as part of the company’s Social Impact Strategy, the programme was delivered in
Prologis UK has secured a 10-year lease with Cainiao, a global ecommerce logistics provider and part of Alibaba Group, marking a significant expansion of its UK operations. Prologis Apex Park DC4’s recent refurbishment was delivered with a strong focus on sustainability, featuring advanced LED lighting, a solar PV array and EV charging infrastructure, resulting in an EPC A rating and supporting lower carbon operations. The 150,911 sq ft DC4 enables rapid operational ramp-up with the installation, through Prologis Essentials, of wide aisle racking providing 20,028 pallet capacity. This allows Cainiao to move in quickly and handle high-volume operations from day one. Sun Beibei, Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Cainiao, said: “By signing a 10-year lease at Prologis Apex Park, we are making a clear, long-term commitment to the UK market. This significant investment reflects our confidence in continued growth and reinforces the stability and reliability of the logistics services we deliver to customers across the region. Prologis Apex Park offers the location, specification and flexibility we need to support our continued growth in the UK. The ability to move quickly through leasing and into a facility that is already optimised for high-volume operations was a key factor in our decision. We look forward to working with Prologis as we expand our network.” Tom Price, Leasing Director at Prologis UK, said: “Cainiao’s decision to locate at Prologis Apex Park reflects the strength of the Midlands as a core logistics location, as well as continued investment from Chinese ecommerce businesses into the UK. As an existing global customer, we were able to move quickly on commercial terms, enabling this transaction to complete” The letting brings Prologis Apex Park to full occupancy, following the recent leasing of DC3 to DHL. The park is home to major global customers including CEVA Logistics, XPO Logistics, Cummins and Hankook, reinforcing its position as one of the Midland’s premier logistics locations with strong connectivity and access to an established labour pool within the Midlands’ ‘golden triangle’. A final opportunity remains at the park, with DC11 offering a 91,000 sq ft build-to-suit unit with full planning consent. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Plans have been submitted for phase one of East Bank Urban Village – one of Hull’s largest ever regeneration projects – which is set to breathe life back into the East Bank of the River Hull through the creation of a sustainable new neighbourhood. Hull City Council, working in collaboration with lead development partner ECF (the partnership between Homes England, L&G and Muse), has submitted detailed designs for phase one of East Bank. The hybrid application also includes outline plans for the wider neighbourhood which, once complete, will deliver around 850 new homes on the site opposite the Old Town. Once an important part of Hull’s maritime industry, use of this area has seen a significant decline since the mid-20th century. Today, the site is primarily occupied by surface parking and vacant brownfield land. Over the next 15 years, East Bank Urban Village will introduce a mix of affordable houses and Build-To-Rent (BTR) apartments alongside shops, restaurants, leisure and other neighbourhood uses. An interconnected network of streets, plazas, green spaces and a new riverside promenade will improve connectivity, creating active travel routes that encourage walking and cycling throughout the site. Phase one will establish the core of the new neighbourhood, delivering 37 townhouses and 78 apartments across two buildings. All of the homes will be affordable, helping to meet local demand and ensuring East Bank is inclusive and accessible to a wide range of people. Phase one will also include the landing for the Scale Lane bridge on the eastern bank of the River Hull and the connection to the existing Trinity Buoy Shed – a much-loved local heritage building – which will be brought back into use as part of the long-term vision for the neighbourhood. Later phases will deliver more than 700 Build-To-Rent (BTR) and affordable apartments across the wider neighbourhood, improving connections to nearby areas including the Fruit Market. In addition to the new homes, there are plans to revitalise the area around the Drypool Basin, as a contemporary community space. In September and October 2025, the council and ECF led a series of community conversations, where local people had the opportunity to offer constructive suggestions which fed directly into the masterplan. This included the need for more green community spaces, parking and traffic management, enhancing biodiversity and finding new uses for existing historical landmarks including the former Lock Keeper’s Cottage. Raife Gale, senior development manager at ECF said: “Local people have been supportive – and so insightful – in offering their feedback, and this has all fed into the final planning application we’ve submitted. “Our plan is to deliver a sustainable new neighbourhood where people want to live, work and spend time – and key to this is creating quality homes, attractive public spaces and new leisure and business opportunities. East Bank will kick-start a new chapter for this part of the city’s riverside, ensuring it continues to play a role for future generations. “The council has an ambitious programme of regeneration which is already helping transform the city centre, as seen with the recently completed redevelopment of the Museums Quarter and Old Town, and we are using our knowledge and expertise in delivering complex schemes across the UK to help unlock the next phase of the city’s development.” The project is supported by £9.8m in government-backed Levelling Up Partnership funding, underpinning enabling works and early infrastructure delivery. East Bank Urban Village will also make a significant contribution to the council’s ambition to deliver 2,500 new homes within Hull city centre as part of its Local Plan. It will also act as a catalyst site for Hull’s recently endorsed City Centre Vision. By using state-of-the-art materials and technologies, including sustainable drainage systems, throughout the neighbourhood, East Bank Urban Village will also follow the principles of Hull’s “Living With Water” project. Chris Jackson, director of regeneration and partnerships at Hull City Council, said: “It is pleasing that the council has been able to submit plans for phase one of East Bank Urban Village. “This is a significant regeneration project which will help to meet the council’s housing targets, revitalise a long-term brownfield site and also support both Hull’s Old Town and city centre economies. “We have already welcomed extensive public feedback on draft proposals for East Bank ahead of this planning submission and look forward to hearing their thoughts on the updated plans.” East Bank Urban Village has been selected as a national case study by the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) which is held annually in Leeds in May. The video case study, which is now live, captures how Hull City Council and ECF are working in partnership to accelerate delivery, attract investment and showcase Hull’s broader regeneration strategy to the national market. The project’s inclusion is expected to further boost investor confidence as East Bank moves toward delivery, if planning approval is achieved. For more information go to www.eastbank-hull.com Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Vanguard Self Storage, one of the UK’s leading independent self-storage companies, has confirmed significant progress on its new Maidenhead branch, scheduled for handover in August and opening in September 2026 – exactly one year after the project was first announced. This development marks Vanguard’s tenth location in England, expanding its growing portfolio of high-quality storage facilities across the country. Since the announcement in September 2025, key works completed at the site have included the following: The project remains on track for an August handover, with final works underway to ensure the branch meets Vanguard’s high standards. Once open, the branch will feature: The Maidenhead branch is expected to generate four new jobs, while supporting broader employment in associated local and surrounding businesses, reinforcing Vanguard’s commitment to the neighbouring community and economy. Will McCullagh, Managing Director of Vanguard Self Storage, said, “This facility represents a major investment in the local community, providing high-quality, secure storage solutions and creating new employment opportunities. We look forward to opening in late summer and to supporting the needs of the Maidenhead residential and business community. For more information about Vanguard Self Storage, please visit https://www.vanguardstorage.co.uk/. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
McLaughlin & Harvey has completed the construction of a major new academic facility at the University of Edinburgh, marking another milestone in the ongoing transformation of the institution’s King’s Buildings Campus. The new Engineering Forum building, which will house the School of Engineering’s Institute for Energy Systems, provides 6,500 sq m of high-specification teaching and research space. Delivered via the SCAPE Scotland Framework, the five-storey, steel-framed development has been designed to support both advanced research and hands-on learning in key areas such as renewable energy, power systems and electronics. Positioned as a ‘living lab’, the building has been developed to facilitate real-world experimentation and innovation, enabling students and researchers to engage directly with emerging technologies. The facility reflects a growing emphasis within higher education on experiential learning environments that bridge the gap between academic study and industry application. The project also demonstrates the increasing role of modern construction techniques in delivering complex academic buildings within operational environments. Working within a live campus presented logistical challenges, requiring careful coordination to minimise disruption while maintaining programme efficiency. Dougie McCusker, construction director at McLaughlin & Harvey, highlighted the collaborative approach taken throughout the scheme, noting that close engagement with the University and design partners was key to delivering a high-quality outcome. He added that the project represents the contractor’s seventh development for the University of Edinburgh, underlining a long-standing relationship between the two organisations. The Engineering Forum forms part of a wider programme of investment across the King’s Buildings Campus, aimed at enhancing the University’s research capabilities and academic infrastructure. McLaughlin & Harvey has played a significant role in this transformation, having previously delivered the Nucleus Building, which opened in 2022, as well as contributing to other major schemes including the Usher Institute and the Roslin Innovation Centre. The completion of the new facility reinforces the continued investment in education-led development, with a focus on delivering future-ready environments that support innovation, sustainability and technical excellence. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Between December 2025 and February 2026, UK GDP grew by 0.5%; however, unlike services and production, which grew by 0.5% and 1.2% respectively, construction fell by 2.0%. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The economy is in a stronger place than many presumed; however, growth in construction is proving elusive and where growth has occurred, it remains way below the 2023 baseline it is set against and in areas where public funding has been strong.” Over a three-month period, output in infrastructure and public works rose by 2.1%, but the highest growth was in private repair and maintenance, which grew by 6.7%. Output in all new housing fell by 2.5%, with productivity in new public housing hitting lows last seen in July 2019. This has coincided with a steady drop in monthly brick deliveries, a useful indicator for industry health, which were 34.5% lower relative to February 2019. Rico Wojtulewicz, Director of Policy and Market Insight at the NFB, said: “The winter period is when projects are gearing up for delivery, so growth is rarely certain. However, construction insolvency is up, brick deliveries are down and material prices continue to rise. Industry confidence remains low. It was very pleasing to see growth in private housing repair and maintenance, and it warrants further investigation into what the drivers were, as it could signal a green economy growth. The impact of the war in Iran has not yet been fed into the GDP figures, but industry is already expressing concerns. We would therefore hope that the Government’s proposed procurement and planning reforms are put into law as soon as possible, particularly those to support SMEs, such as the Medium sized site.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Work has started in Hamilton to deliver 142 new homes, representing a £42 million investment from top 10 housebuilder Keepmoat. Set to transform the former Bell College site, Keepmoat will deliver a mixed tenure scheme, including 36 affordable homes in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council. The much needed development will offer a range of homes including apartments, terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, together with new pedestrian routes, public play areas and green spaces. Tim Metcalfe, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat Scotland, said: “At Keepmoat we’re committed to breathing new life into brownfield sites and creating well-connected, multi-tenure communities and our significant investment at Hamilton is testament to that. “As a partnership-first housebuilder, we’re also proud to be delivering affordable homes alongside South Lanarkshire Council to create much-needed accessible options. It’s great to see work start on this site as it prepares to transform a disused area in the town.” The new site will provide 36 new council homes, including a number of homes for tenants with particular needs, and will be jointly funded by the council and the Scottish Government through their Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding. Stephen Gibson, Executive Director of Housing and Technical Resources at South Lanarkshire Council, added: “These affordable homes will be a welcome addition to the council’s housing stock and will help meet the varying needs of people across Hamilton. “We are determined to provide residents across the council area with high-quality homes, and that is exactly what will be provided through this partnership with Keepmoat. I am delighted to see the work beginning that will revitalise what has been a derelict site in a prime location and am looking forward to seeing the genuine difference it will bring to people’s lives.” The site was also formerly home to Hamilton Barracks before it was converted into a college and the Almada Street Campus sold by the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Keepmoat is a top 10 UK partnership homebuilder with a track-record of delivering quality homes in regions across the UK. To date, Keepmoat has built over 35,000 homes, transforming brownfield sites into thriving new communities. For more information, please visit www.keepmoat.com. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Nearly half of Spacemaker’s installations run in freezer and cold storage environments, serving food, beverage, and pharmaceutical operators across the United States. Having completed nearly 50 cold storage facilities, you stop theorizing about what works and start knowing. Spacemaker has been deploying pallet shuttle systems in sub-zero, freezer-grade, and cold chain environments for over a decade. Nearly half of our 90+ installations operate in cold storage, from frozen food distribution to pharmaceutical cold chain to beverage production, across the United States. This is what those projects taught us. Lesson 1: The system that works at 20°C often does not work at -20°C This sounds obvious. It is not, until you watch a competitor’s system fail because a single lubricant wasn’t rated for deep freeze. Cold storage automation has a longer list of failure modes than ambient: battery chemistry degrades under sustained cold, encoder sensors misread through frost accumulation, structural components become brittle, and seals that perform perfectly in ambient warehouses fail within months in a freezer environment. Every Spacemaker system, the DualAxis Pro®, the Pallet Mole®, the QuadAxis Pro®, is engineered for operation down to -40°C / -40°F. That is a specification built from field experience in facilities where downtime is not a KPI problem; it becomes a product loss event. Lesson 2: Cold storage operators have less tolerance for downtime than anyone In a standard ambient warehouse, a system going offline for four hours is an operational disruption. In a -20°C freezer facility holding temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical goods or frozen food, it can mean product loss, compliance failures, and customer penalties. The operators we work with, companies like a leading food manufacturer, a major cold storage operator, a large meat processor, and a national beverage distributor, have zero tolerance for unexpected downtime. That pressure shaped how Spacemaker engineers redundancy into every deployment. Auto-return-on-low-battery, emergency stop systems, real-time status alerts through the MGM® fleet management platform, and remote diagnostics are not features we added because customers asked. They’re features we added because we saw what happens without them. Lesson 3: The hardest part of a cold storage installation is not the technology Spacemaker has completed nine installations across a major beverage distributor’s facilities across multiple US states. Each site is different. Different rack configurations, different ceiling heights, different floor conditions, different throughput requirements. What’s consistent across every one of them: the hardest part of the project is the transition. Existing operations in cold storage facilities rarely stop during an installation. Workers are moving pallets. Temperature zones need to be maintained. The integration of a new automated system has to happen around live operations, often in phases, in a -20°C environment where installation crews are working in limited shifts. We have learned to plan for the human and environmental complexity of cold storage, not just the mechanical one. Lesson 4: Forklift elimination changes everything in a freezer Every cold storage operator has the same workforce challenge: working in a freezer is physically demanding, turnover is high, and OSHA requirements add cost and complexity to every shift. Forklifts in cold aisles introduce risk, icy floors, reduced visibility in frost, slowed reaction times. When we remove forklifts from the cold aisle entirely, which is what our systems do, we are not just improving storage density. We are eliminating the leading source of injury risk in the facility, reducing the number of people who need to work in the cold, and improving throughput because the shuttle does not need a 10-minute warm-up break. Operators who came to us for ROI from density gains often find that the labor and safety story is a bigger return. Lesson 5: Four-way systems are under-deployed in cold storage, for now The majority of cold storage automation today is two-way pallet shuttle technology. The Pallet Mole® and DualAxis Pro® are built for exactly this: deep-lane, high-density, FIFO or LIFO storage. They’re proven, efficient, and the right tool for most cold storage applications. But cold chain is changing. Online grocery, meal kit distribution, and pharmaceutical cold chain have introduced SKU profiles that two-way systems are not optimized for, high SKU count, variable velocity, complex product rotation requirements. The QuadAxis Pro® handles those profiles better than any two-way system can. We are starting to see cold storage operators in frozen food distribution and pharmaceutical logistics ask questions they were not asking two years ago. That is a leading indicator. The next five years of cold storage automation deployments will look different from the last ten. What 50 Projects Taught Us, in Short Cold chain automation is not harder than ambient automation. It is more demanding, it asks more of the equipment, more of the installation team, and more of the design process. But it is also where automation delivers its highest value, because the environment makes every manual alternative more expensive, more dangerous, and less reliable. Every system we have put into cold storage has made the operators who run them faster, safer, and more capable than they were before. The result speaks for itself. Spacemaker Systems, Inc. is a full turnkey provider of pallet shuttle automation, with offices in Ocoee, Florida and Warwickshire, UK. To learn how Spacemaker approaches cold storage automation, visit spacemakerinc.com. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
wienerberger UK & Ireland has delivered the first pilot of its Trades of Tomorrow programme, a three‑day initiative designed to help care‑experienced young people explore careers in construction while responding to the industry’s long‑term skills challenge. Developed as part of the company’s Social Impact Strategy, the programme was delivered in partnership with charity The National House Project and the Greater Manchester Youth Network, bringing together young people from across the North West with lived experience of the care system. With demand for skilled trades continuing to outstrip supply, Trades of Tomorrow was created to provide practical, real‑world insight into the construction sector, build confidence, and demystify the different routes into employment, training and further education. The programme sits alongside wienerberger’s wider, long‑standing support for construction skills development, including its backing of and provision of materials for national skills competitions such as Super Trowel, SkillBuild and the Guild of Bricklayers. Sarah Nurton, Social Impact Manager at wienerberger UK & Ireland, said: “Construction is facing a long‑term skills challenge, and as an industry we have a responsibility to think differently about where future talent comes from. Trades of Tomorrow is about opening up access to the sector and providing practical, real‑world insight for young people who may not otherwise see construction as an option. “By working alongside trusted partners and employers, we can help care‑experienced young people build confidence, understand the breadth of opportunities available, and make informed decisions about their next steps.” Across the programme, participants were introduced to a broad range of construction trades, including heritage skills through sessions delivered by Donald Install Associates. Activities included hands‑on clay work and a practical roofing session, designed to give participants a tangible feel for working on site and with materials. The group also visited Stockport College, where they toured the construction department, took part in a brick‑building exercise and spoke directly with teaching staff about course options, entry requirements and what to expect from further education in the built environment. The programme concluded with a site visit to an Anwyl Homes development in Chorlton, offering a live view of housebuilding in progress. Participants took part in a site tour and Q&A session with an apprentice, providing insight into day‑to‑day site life and the different pathways into construction careers. Kat Luckock, Director of Partnerships at The National House Project, commented: “It has been fantastic to partner with wienerberger to co‑produce the Trades of Tomorrow programme with young people from two of our Local House Projects. For care leavers, access to industry insight and real career pathways can be transformative, and construction is a sector full of opportunity. “Working in partnership with an employer like wienerberger ensures the programme is grounded in real industry experience and opens doors that might otherwise feel out of reach. It also supports our existing partnership, where wienerberger provides a bursary to young people looking to start or develop their career in construction. “We’re excited to continue growing the programme to support care‑experienced young people to build sustainable, skilled careers in the construction sector.” Mathew Harrison, Group HSE Director at Anwyl Homes, said: “It was our pleasure to welcome such an enthusiastic group of young people to our Dalton Fields development in Chorlton and give them an insight into the everyday workings of a construction site. We hope we have inspired them to consider housebuilding as a future career path.” Andy George, Director of Skills and Attraction at Home Builders Federation, said: “It’s great to see targeted interventions like Trades of Tomorrow being launched by the industry and shows how initiatives like this can really open up construction careers and strengthen the talent pipeline. This programme builds on the success of the HBF Partner a College programme, which works by connecting employers with colleges to provide hands-on experience, giving clearer pathways into the sector and enabling more work-ready students.” Following the success of the pilot, wienerberger plans to build on the programme, with ambitions to deliver further Trades of Tomorrow sessions and continue working with partners to support care‑experienced young people into long‑term careers across the construction industry. www.wienerberger.co.uk Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals