Panattoni, the world’s largest privately owned industrial developer, has handed over the keys to DPD’s new distribution hub at Panattoni Park Sittingbourne, marking a key milestone for both the occupier and the park.
The completion of the build reinforces Sittingbourne’s position as one of the South East’s most strategically important logistics locations and highlights occupier demand for sustainable, technology enabled space in supply constrained corridors.
Panattoni purchased the Sittingbourne plot in the summer of 2023, and achieved planning, pre-letting and delivery all within 18 months. With ID Logistics’ leasing the 440,000 sq ft unit at Sittingbourne last year, there is now only one unit remaining at the park for lease.
Panattoni Park Sittingbourne is situated approximately four miles from Junction 5 of the M2, between London and the Port of Dover. The location provides rapid access to the M2, M20, and M25, and strong connectivity to port and Channel gateways, including London Thamesport, Dover, and the Port of Tilbury. This positioning supports high throughput parcel distribution and efficient reach into London, the wider South East, and national routes.
The DPD facility forms part of Panattoni’s wider net zero carbon development strategy at Sittingbourne, delivering modern logistics capacity aligned with occupiers’ operational and decarbonisation requirements. The park is designed to provide best in class infrastructure, power, and yard capability for high intensity distribution uses, while targeting leading sustainability outcomes, including BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC A performance, supported by solar PV and electric vehicle charging provision.
Once in operation the fully automated hub will greatly increase DPD’s capacity in the region.
Alex Mitchell, Associate Development Director: South East & London, said:
“Announcing the completion of DPD’s state of the art hub at Panattoni Park Sittingbourne is an important step for the park and a strong endorsement of the location and specification we have delivered. Sittingbourne offers exceptional connectivity and labour access, and it is well suited to the operational intensity of a modern parcel hub.
It follows a series of successes for Panattoni in Kent, including the full letting of our 1.1m sq ft Aylesford scheme; ID Logistics leasing 440,000 sq ft at Sittingbourne, the South East’s largest speculative letting last year; the submission of a planning application at Sevenoaks; and the recent acquisition of the in Lenham site in Maidstone, capable of delivering more than 1m sq ft of space.
“We are proud to be supporting DPD’s growth in the UK with a facility that combines scale, efficiency, and a net zero carbon development approach. We look forward to seeing the hub play a central role in DPD’s expanding South East distribution network.”
Panattoni Park Sittingbourne’s final remaining unit totals 205,000 sq ft and is available immediately, ready for tenant fit-out, benefitting from a 15m clear internal height, 2.52 MVA of power, a 50m service yard, and the potential to reduce occupier energy costs by up to £87,600 per annum through the installed PV.
For more information, please visit: https://panattoni.co.uk/our-properties/sittingbourne/
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