Royal Mail revolutionises its parcels business with launch of new state-of-the-art automated super hub in Daventry

Royal Mail has today opened its new state-of-the-art Midlands Super Hub, marking the event with a ribbon cutting ceremony, a special performance and a visit by the local member of parliament.

Located in Daventry, Northamptonshire, the 53-acre site – the equivalent of 30 football pitches – takes its place as Royal Mail’s largest automated parcels facility.

It has the capability to process up to 90,000 items an hour, with each parcel taking just seven minutes to pass through the site’s sorting machines.

Alongside its sister Super Hub located in the North West, this addition to the Royal Mail business creates an interconnected, market-leading parcels network that stretches across the United Kingdom.

Royal Mail Chief Operations Officer Grant McPherson said: “This is a very exciting time for Royal Mail. The opening of this Super Hub is a key part in our journey to revolutionise our parcels business.

“We’ve now created a state-of-the-art network of Super Hubs that processes parcels at incredible speeds, has the transport links to ship them efficiently across the United Kingdom, and fulfils the needs of our customers for a reliable parcels business that will deliver for them the next day, every day of the week.

“It’s truly an investment in the future. It puts us on track to meet our mission to reduce our carbon emissions, and with the Royal Mail Academy centralised at the Super Hub, it’s also an investment in the development and future of our employees.”

Chris Heaton-Harris, MP for Daventry and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland attended the opening.

He said: “It is a real pleasure to be here today at the opening of the Midlands Super Hub. I am always extremely delighted to see thriving and growing businesses in my Daventry constituency.

“I welcome this important investment by Royal Mail, which will give an extensive boost to the economy here. I have been so impressed by this facility today and have no doubt it will bring many opportunities to the area.”

The new facility was built from the ground up with the environment in mind – the building itself is energy efficient, harvests rainwater and generates its own solar electricity.

It is also located on the doorstep of several of the nation’s major online retailers – allowing these companies to drop parcels off at the latest possible time for next day delivery.

One of its major features, its integrated rail link and dedicated Royal Mail train, connects the Super Hub to the West Coast Mainline, Britain’s primary rail route. It runs from the hub to the firm’s Scottish distribution centre near Glasgow.

The train vastly outstrips the capacity of lorries, taking up to 16 Royal Mail trucks off the road every day, and more than 3,000 a year. All of this contributes to Royal Mail’s Steps to Zero campaign – a drive to reduce the business’ carbon emissions to net zero by 2040.

Combined with Royal Mail’s other operations, the Super Hub will contribute to efforts ongoing locally and nationally to drive quality across the board and give customers a consistently reliable service.

Today’s opening, and the celebrations that joined it, recognises the efforts of everyone involved in the project, as well as the future efforts of colleagues who will be working at the hub going forward.

FACTS:

• The entire site is 53 acres – the equivalent of 30 football pitches.
• 120,000 tonnes of concrete were used in the construction of the site equivalent to 2800 HGVs.
• The main volume of the unit is 1.3million cubic metres – large enough for 14 jumbo jets.
• If the window and window seals were laid down in a line it would reach Antarctica.
• The Steel frame of the unit weighs 4500 tonnes or the equivalent of 350 London Buses.
• 235 million parcels a year will pass through the hub, up to 90k per hour. It takes just 7 minutes for a parcel to go through the system
• There will be 1600 vehicles in and out of the hub daily.
• The train leaving from the dedicated rail link can carry enough parcels to take up to 16 trucks a day off the road, which is over 3,000 truckloads a year.
• It is located next to the warehouses and fulfilment centres of several major online retailers.

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