Hermes break the ground on £31m Rugby Hub

Hermes has today confirmed it is to build a state-of-the-art automated parcel distribution hub located in Rugby, Warwickshire. The £31 million development will be the largest single investment ever made by Hermes and illustrates the company’s ongoing commitment to providing exceptional levels of service in light of continued business growth.

The 270,000 square foot Midlands Super Hub will have the capacity to process up to 1.1 million parcels every day and will increase the company’s overall parcel processing capacity by 45%, as well as creating more than 200 new permanent jobs.

Work on the facility commenced earlier this week under the supervision of Hermes CEO Carole Woodhead and Chief Operating Officer Martijn de Lange. The delivery specialist will work together with site developer Roxhill and contractor Winvic during the construction of the hub, which is anticipated to officially open in August of next year.

We know that increasing numbers of Tamebay readers use myHermes to distribute their ecommerce sales, mainly driven by improvements to service in recent years which include reducing delivery times to as little as two days and offering prices as low as £2.60 (inc VAT) for parcels up to 1kg in weight.

Hermes have already had a busy Christmas, with their busiest day on on Friday 4th December seeing them process 1.4 million parcels in a single night.

Carole Woodhead, CEO at Hermes, said: “As work begins at our new facility in Rugby, we are embarking on an exciting new chapter in the history of Hermes that will ensure we can continue to provide retailers with world class services and solutions. The hub’s enormous throughput capability and built in flexibility will help to future proof our business whilst also ensuring we are in the very best position to grow alongside our clients”.

The construction of the Midlands Super Hub follows last year’s significant investment that saw Hermes add a secondary sortation tier at its northern automated distribution hub in Warrington, which can now process up to one million parcels a day. They have also announced an £18m investment in new state-of-the-art handheld scanners in preparation for Christmas 2016.

Carole Woodhead added: “The substantial investment at both Rugby and Warrington shows how we continue to strengthen our network and infrastructure across the UK. This will ensure we have the capacity to cope with prolonged periods of intense activity as well as spikes such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We are laying the foundations for future growth, creating more employment opportunities and confirming our position as an industry leader.”