An ocean of space, painted shades of blue, 21m tall, speculatively built on the M1 Middle England corridor at the heart of exploding e-retail.
IOC maintained its influence on the work of Local Enterprise Partnerships in the last week of March. As an active member of the SEMLEP Logistics Forum we contributed to an event at the Altitude building at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.
SEMLEP is viewed by government as the most effective of the LEPs and other LEPS are adopting their ideas on employer engagement and implementation of local growth plans. In the SEMLEP area, logistics employs nearly 100,000 people, so IOC's work with SEMLEP ensures the needs of the Express Delivery sector are to the fore in their plans.
Discussion in the Forum – attended by employers, local councils, training organisations and academics from nearby Cranfield University - covered career pathways for young people and ways to promote apprenticeships in the sector.
A presentation from Highways England gave new details of the new Oxford to Cambridge Expressway route which will have dramatic impact on journey time reliability and route planning when it opens in the late 2020’s. The morning concluded with a tour of the Altitude building.
The Altitude building growing out of the side of The M1 is a signpost to the world of the evolving giant sheds of modern logistics. At 574,000 sq ft it is billed as the UK’s largest and tallest speculative logistics warehouse.
Aimed squarely at internet delivery operations, it has state of the art sustainability features such as LED lighting, solar thermal heating, rainwater harvesting, power charging stations for electric vehicles and strengthened steel to incorporate Solar PV across the whole roof.
