Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal

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Original development: A DIRFT south , B DIRFT Central , C DIRFT east
  Urban,   A road,   Minor road,   Rail line (dotted in tunnel),   Other industrial/commercial

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail-road intermodal freight terminal with an associated warehousing estate; the facility is located at the junctions between the M1 motorway, A5 and A428 roads with a rail connnection from the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line.

The original development of approximately 120 ha (1.2 km2) was built during the 1990s. of which only DIRFT south (DIRFT Railport) had a direct rail connection. An extension, often referred to as DIRFTII, of ~54 ha (0.54 km2) received planning permission in 2005, and is designed to have all facilities rail connected - the first occupier of DIRFT2 was Tesco, whose distribution centre reached completion in late 2011.

A third extension DIRFTIII, also rail connected, is at a planning and consultation stage as of 2011.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] DIRFT

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal is part of a land development project undertaken by Severn Trent Water on a 174 hectares (1.74 km2) site near Daventry in Northhamptonshire.[1] The location near Crick at junction 18 of the M1 motorway in close proximity to the A5 and M6 roads had been identified as early as 1978 as a "motorway orientated growth point".[2] The ground area of the original DIRFT development is divided into three sections: DIRFT Central 16 ha (0.16 km2), DIRFT East 53 ha (0.53 km2), and DIRFT South 55 ha (0.55 km2) by the A5 and A428 roads.[3]

The site first became operational in July 1997, and was officially opened in November 1997 by HRH The Princess Royal,[4] at inception the facility included a 475,000 square feet (44,100 m2) warehouse operated for road haulage operator Eddie Stobart.[4] The rail connected terminal was operated by Tibbett and Britten;[4] construction of a 210,000 sq ft (20,000 m2) rail connected warehouse was started in 1998,[5] a second 24,600 m2 (265,000 sq ft) facility was constructed in 2000.[6]

DIRFT was one of the earliest post-Channel Tunnel road-rail intermodal terminals - the site includes rail connected terminals and traditional warehousing was designed to act as a regional node for rail freight flows to and from the Port of Felixstowe and the Channel Tunnel,[7] it forms part of the UK network of the Trans-European Combined Transport network.[5]

The site was primarily developed by Severn Trent Property, part of Severn Trent Water.[8] Early occupiers included Royal Mail,[9] Tesco ('Fastway RDC' operated by DHL) (closed 2009),[10][11] and Mothercare.[12] In 2004 74 acres (0.30 km2) of undeveloped land on the site with a capacity for 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2) of warehousing was sold to a joint venture between British Land and Rosemund;[13][14] British Land subsequently let its holding to several customers including a 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m2) warehouse let to TESCO in 2005.[15]

Severn Trent plc sold its holding in DIRFT, as well as the 130 acres (0.53 km2) DIRFTII site to ProLogis in 2006.[8][16] In 2008 Malcolm Rail became the operator of the railport at DIRFT.[17]

[edit] DIRFTII

  DIRFT2 extension

In 2005 planning permission was granted for a rail connected 54 hectares (130 acres) westward expansion of the original site with a built ground area of over 180,000 m2 (1,900,000 sq ft).[3] The DIRFTII expansion was designed for rail connected warehousing allowing transfer between sea or channel tunnel born rail-freight and road transort or warehouse storage. Plans included facilities for containerised and side-loaded palletised rail freight.[18]

Tesco acquired a 840,000 sq ft (78,000 m2) grocery distribution center in 2011, constructed by VolkerFitzatrick (main contracter),[19][20] construction work was completed in September 2011.[21] As part of the development, a rail tunnel was built under the A5 road to connect DIRFTII to the rail network via the original DIRFT railport.[22]

[edit] DIRFTIII

A further 7.5 million sq.ft. extension, DIRFTIII, was proposed for construction on the former Rugby radio station site to the northwest of the current development. The proposal also included a large area 70 ha (0.70 km2) of green space, named Lilbourne Meadows. The development is a joint venture between ProLogis and Rugby Radio Station Limited Partnership (RRSLP) (BT and Aviva). The DIRFTIII site would also be rail connected, with over 700,000 m2 (7,500,000 sq ft) of warehousing over 163 hectares (1.63 km2) of land plus a 3.5 ha (35,000 m2) HGV parking site. A related development is the Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) built to the west of DIRFT as a suburb of Rugby - with over 6000 homes planned.[23] [24]

A planning application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) is to be submitted in 2011, with a decision expected in 2012. If consent is got the building project is expected to start in 2013 with the earliest completed building open by 2014.[24]


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Annual Report and Accounts 2001", www.severntrent.com (Severn Trent): Property , p.11, http://www.severntrent.com/upload/pdf/PLC_reportandaccounts_2001.pdf 
  2. ^ Sources:
  3. ^ a b Sources:
  4. ^ a b c "Severn Trent Property develops facilities in the UK, primarily for distribution, retail and industrial sectors (reproduced from Hemmington Scott annual report)", www2.hemscott.com (Hemmington Scott Ltd), http://www2.hemscott.com/EQUITIES/COMPANY/AR/ID/02046/AR97/PROPERTY.HTM, "In July 1997, the International Rail Freight Terminal at Daventry, Northamptonshire, became operational. The railport, which is operated by Tibbett & Britten Plc, was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 13 November 1997, together with 475,000 sq ft of warehouse and office space developed on the site by Eddie Stobart Limited" 
  5. ^ a b "TURF CUT AT DIRFT FOR NEW DISTRIBUTION CENTRE", www.hayesanderson.com, 27 Aug 1998, http://www.hayesanderson.com/tibbett-britten/press/98press/27aug98.php 
  6. ^ Sources:
  7. ^ John Ratcliffe; Michael Stubbs; Miles Keeping (2009), Urban planning and real estate development (3 ed.), Routledge, Freight Villages, pp.596-597, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E9Amkpj-AIQC 
  8. ^ a b Sinead Cruise (18 Oct 2006), "ProLogis secures Severn Trent properties", www.building.co.uk, http://www.building.co.uk/news/prologis-secures-severn-trent-properties/3075452.article 
  9. ^ "Consignia chooses DIRFT for £40m postal hub", m.propertyweek.com, 1 Nov 2002, http://m.propertyweek.com/news/consignia-chooses-dirft-for-%C2%A340m-postal-hub/3022931.article 
  10. ^ "Tesco – we will not sacrifice food space", www.thegrocer.co.uk, 1 Nov 2003, http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/companies/tesco-we-will-not-sacrifice-food-space/89389.article 
  11. ^ "Tesco closes Fastway DC", www.logisticsmanager.com, 13 Mar 2009, http://www.logisticsmanager.com/Articles/11179/Tesco+closes+Fastway+DC.html 
  12. ^ "Mothercare focuses on a planned delivery", www.telegraph.co.uk (The Telegraph), 21 Aug 2002, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3298231/Mothercare-focuses-on-a-planned-delivery.html 
  13. ^ "Part of dIRft sold", www.logisticsmanager.com, 1 May 2004, http://www.logisticsmanager.com/Articles/3431/Part+of+dIRft+sold.html 
  14. ^ "British Land and Rosemound acquire at DIRFT", www.britishland.com (British Land), 5 Apr 2004, http://www.britishland.com/index.asp?pageid=42&newsid=205 
  15. ^ "British Land/Rosemound jv lets 750,000 sq ft to Tesco at Dirft, Daventry (UK)", www.europe-re.com, 17 Mar 2005, http://www.europe-re.com/system/main.php?pageid=2616&articleid=4201 
  16. ^ "Disposal", www.severntrent.com (Severn Trent), 6 Nov 2006, http://www.severntrent.com/conWebDoc/258 
  17. ^ Jim Clark (27 Sep 2011), "Scotland's Transport Future In A Changing World", iatp.info (WH Malcolm Ltd), http://iatp.info/Presentations/Jim%20Clark.pdf 
  18. ^ "Prologis RFI DIRFTII Daventry", www.prologisrfidirft.co.uk (ProLogis), http://www.prologisrfidirft.co.uk/rfi_dirft.pdf, retrieved 21 Jan 2012 
  19. ^ Sources:
  20. ^ "Northamptonshire logistics go green", www.northamptonshireletyourselfgrow.com, 22 Jul 2011, http://www.northamptonshireletyourselfgrow.com/news/business/northamptonshire-logistics-go-green-01503 
  21. ^ "Tesco’s building goes up at DIRFT", www.logisticsmanager.com, 20 Sep 2011, http://www.logisticsmanager.com/Articles/16928/Tesco%E2%80%99s+building+goes+up+at+DIRFT.html 
  22. ^ Sources:
  23. ^ Sources:
  24. ^ a b "DIRFT III - PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE", dirftiii.com, http://dirftiii.com/pdfs/Dirft-3-Summary-Proposal.pdf 

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 52°20′59″N 1°10′04″W / 52.34972°N 1.16778°W / 52.34972; -1.16778

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