Europa Worldwide appoints head of property to oversee construction of £60m superhub

Europa Worldwide Group has taken on former Aldi Stores UK national building manager Alec Kirkbride to lead the construction of its new £60m superhub in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Kirkbride has assumed the newly-created role of head of property at Europa, which will involve him overseeing commercial real estate, procurement, health and safety, construction project management and engineering.

Dartford-based Europa Worldwide said Kirkbride brings "extensive experience" of managing multiple large-scale national infrastructure construction projects and complex commercial sites and in negotiating multi-million-pound complex procurement contracts.

The new 715,000 sq ft warehouse, which is being constructed at Midlands Logistics Park in Corby, is due for completion in June 2020. The company said construction is on schedule and set to be delivered on time and to budget.

The new facility will double Europa Warehouse’s logistics portfolio and includes a ceiling height above the market standard of 18 metres to facilitate three floors of mezzanines.

Read more

• Brexit is in road transport’s best interests, insists Europa MD Andrew Baxter
• Europa Worldwide starts work on £60m Midlands superhub
• Brexit or not, warehousing capacity is on the increase

Kirkbride said: "I’m currently heavily involved in the Corby build, especially at this stage of proceedings. Once operational, the day-to-day management of the warehouse will be handed over to warehouse director, Maria-Torrent March.

He added: "My role as head of property covers all of the Europa real estate including our warehouses and an extensive network of offices. I’ll be looking at how we can drive business efficiencies, reviewing current procurement methods and suggesting ways in which we can inject new ideas to add value to our current business model.”

Andrew Baxter, Europa managing director said: "With the new site at Corby being such a huge investment it was important to have someone on board who could prioritise managing the site, with the required experience to navigate any challenges we may encounter along the way.

“Alec joining the team gives us a huge advantage – his knowledge and experience will be invaluable during the process of the build and vital in ensuring we deliver against all set time and budget requirements.”

Europa Worldwide Group, which employs over 900 staff across 16 sites, boosted 2019 turnover by 22% to £220m and profits to over £6m.