Henderson Group continues to invest in supply chain operations 29 September 2017

A £12.5 million logistics centre designed to streamline operations at the Henderson Group, one of Northern Ireland’s leading businesses, has been officially opened by the Managing Director of SPAR International, Tobias Wasmuht.

The 16,720 m2 new warehouse at Henderson Group headquarters at Hydepark in Mallusk incorporates cutting-edge design from across the SPAR International network, which operates in 44 countries, with over 12,500 stores and annual retail sales of over £33.0 billion.

As the owner of the SPAR franchise in Northern Ireland, Henderson Group is part of the global network. This new facility is set to benefit 447 independent and company owned stores which it supplies across Northern Ireland.

The opening of the domed warehouse, which will store ambient products, is the most recently completed phase of a redevelopment scheme which will see the Henderson Group invest over £30.0 million in land acquisition and new buildings at the Group’s headquarters.

The first phase saw the opening of Henderson Group’s new group office building at Mallusk, an investment of £3.5 million, earlier this year. The next phase will involve the redevelopment of the Company’s chilled and frozen distribution warehouse on the same site, another £12.5 million project.

Lead contractors for the project, which was completed in just nine months on a site previously owned by Marks and Spencer, were Fermanagh-based Tracey Brothers. The location is excellent for the delivery of goods arriving from Larne and Belfast ports and has good access to 447 stores across Northern Ireland that we supply.

When designing the facility, the focus was on achieving maximum efficiencies both in terms of energy consumption and in speed of loading and unloading products, especially in the bulk stack area where fast moving products like promotions are managed.

The facility has specially designed 20 metre loading bays where the Company can move goods in and out in one place with eight new loading docks which help load double deck vehicles efficiently as well as 31 other loading and unloading doors. The product layout is as close to the store layout as possible which simplifies the distribution process.

Among the products which will pass through the warehouse each year around 100,000 tonnes of goods with the most popular being Coca Cola as well as over 50.0 million litres of other soft drinks.