Business Weekly

Willis & Gambier will move its warehouse and distribution operations to Kingston Park in Peterborough

 Headquartered in Saffron Walden, Willis & Gambier will move its warehouse and distribution operations to Kingston Park in Peterborough, owned by ProLogis, the world’s largest owner, manager and developer of distribution facilities.

The fast growing furniture retailer will use the relocation to consolidate operations that currently span five warehouses across three sites in Essex into a single larger facility, which will serve as its nationwide distribution centre for various lines of its bedroom, dining room and occasional furniture.

Willis & Gambier employs around 150 people in the UK – more in Malaysia, China and Brazil – 100 of which are warehouse based positions which will all be relocated to Peterborough. The 50 office-based workers will remain in Saffron Walden.

The 15-year lease on the property commences in March and staff relocation is expected to complete by the end of May.

Willis & Gambier has leased 100 per cent of the inventory facility, itself part of a 1.45 million sq ft master-planned industrial park being developed in Peterborough.

While the amount paid remains undisclosed, quoting rent for the building was £4.75 per sq ft, around £2.59 million.

Founded in 1990, Willis & Gambier had successfully taken control of 14 per cent of the UK bunk bed market within eight years. In 1998, the brand shifted direction and was repositioned into the premium furniture market selling wooden bedroom and dining room furniture.

By 2006 the firm was turning over almost £35m and at the end of the year underwent a £55m management buy-out when Barney Willis retired and Nigel Gambier remained.

It is now the UK’s leading designer and distributor of premium quality wooden bedroom and dining room furniture, supplying both national and independent retailers, with a mix of classically designed own brand and exclusive collections.

With its new Peterborough location, the company intends to use it to expand the business further. “We have an increasing market share and are expanding further,” said Willis & Gambier operations director, Michelle Garrett. “Hopefully we will soon see major growth in the UK and European marketplace.”

Willis & Gambier settled on Peterborough following an extensive search for a facility capable of delivering capacity and distributional qualities that wasn’t too far from the Saffron Walden site.

“We looked for nine months,” said Garrett. “There are not that many warehouses of that size available in the area and we wanted it as close to the current site as possible for the sake of the staff.

“We selected ProLogis to provide our centre based on the quality of product and their ability to quickly meet our distribution facility requirements.

“ProLogis Kingston Park will serve as an ideal location for our business operations, offering access to a high-quality labour pool and an excellent regional transportation infrastructure.”

ProLogis Kingston Park is within a one-hour drive of four major airports, London Stansted, Luton, Birmingham International and East Midlands.

The park consists of three facilities including the Willis & Gambier property; an 187,000 sq ft inventory building completed earlier this month and a 726,000 sq ft facility leased to Debenhams.

ProLogis is the UK’s largest provider of industrial distribution facilities, with approximately 17.38m sq ft of industrial space owned, managed and under development, as of September 30, 2007.

The company has over £17 billion of assets owned, managed and under development.
 

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