CONSTRUCTION has kicked off for Woolworths’ new 22,000 sqm customer fulfilment centre in western Sydney, its first automated facility which will dispatch up to 50,000 home deliveries a week amid growing online orders.
The centre is being built in partnership with automation technology company Knapp, which will help Woolworths’ personal shoppers pick and dispatch deliveries, while national builder Vaughan Constructions has been awarded the build contract.
Plans include provision for two levels of office space over 1,224 sqm, a 16,300 sqm temperature controlled warehouse and freezer, loading and delivery docks with direct street access, and parking, loading and pick-up areas for more than 330 vehicles
The $64 million centre at 13 Percy Street was approved mid-year and will take the place of two older warehouses.
Due for practical completion in early 2023, the project is targeting at least a 5-Star Green Star Rating via rainwater harvesting, solar panels and electric vehicle charging facilities.
Woolworths director of e-commerce said demand for online groceries in western Sydney had more than tripled in just the past two years.
“We need to continue investing in new capacity to keep pace with demand and rising customer expectations.”
“We’re very excited to play such an integral role in what will be the latest in online customer and delivery service for Woolworths in western Sydney,” Vaughan’s general manager NSW, Mark Cormack said.
Vaughan was previously been contracted by Woolworths to build the $135 million, 38,000 sqm, Melbourne Fresh Distribution Centre at Truganina in Melbourne, completed a year ago, and the 70,000 sqm Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre in Lyndhurst, also in Melbourne.
Woolworths has just signed a five-year lease extension over a 54,200 sqm distribution centre on the Central Coast with landlord Centuria Industrial REIT, and is expanding its distribution centre in Adelaide’s north.
Amid the battle for logistics supremacy in the supermarket sector, Woolworths had sought a controversial $552 million acquisition of a 65% interest in the country’s second-largest player in the food services market, PFD Food Services, in a deal that would have included $249 million to acquire 26 distribution centres that will be leased back to PFD, but those went to property player Charter Hall.
Woolworths’ major rival Coles recently upped its gross operating capital expenditure to $1 billion last year, including increased investment at its Witron ambient automated distribution centres, while it signed long-term pre-lease commitments for two new facilities in Sydney and Melbourne to cater to its online retail business.
Coles this week said it planned to recruit more than 70 digital professionals for its own e-commerce business, to be based at its Melbourne store support centre.
Vaughan’s construction portfolio also includes the 100,000 sqm Mickleham Distribution Centre, formerly German hypermarket Kaufland’s, as well as distribution facilities for Dulux, Aldi, and Coca-Cola on top of numerous commercial, residential and retail projects.
