DPD has been given the go ahead to build its fifth UK hub, which it expects to go live in October 2020.

The new £150m site will be built just two miles from DPD’s Hub 4 and International Gateway site in Hinckley.

The 276,000ft² hub building will be 503m in length, and will be built on a 39 acre site on a new 82 acre employment park just off junction 1 of the M69.

The carrier’s fifth UK hub will be able to process 71,000 parcels a night, upping the network’s total sortation capacity by 60%.

Building work on the site is expected to start in October this year.

DPD CEO Dwain McDonald said that a large part of the business’s decision to stay in the Hinckley area was the “excellent workforce” available to the business, as well as it being a convenient location that has already proven convenient.

He added: “I am delighted to announce this very significant investment in new jobs and infrastructure.  We are continuing to experience strong growth in demand for our services, which is why we are announcing another massive hub project less than three years after we opened hub 4.

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“In that time, we have seen seismic changes in retail behaviour in the UK, with major events like Black Friday creating bigger and longer periods of high demand at different times during the year, and then Christmas itself becoming even more of an online retail focused event.”

Bill Cullen, chief executive of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, which granted planning permission for the new site, said the build would bring “significant economic benefit” to the area.

He said: “This significant investment in DPD's new super-hub will bring significant job opportunities as well as apprenticeship opportunities to the local area, both during construction and in the new facilities being provided.

“It will generate significant economic benefit to the area, improve public transport provision and underpin the Council's aspirations for enhancing the prosperity of the Borough for the benefit of our local communities.”

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