Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail-road intermodal freight terminal with an associated warehousing estate in Northamptonshire, England. The facility is located at the junctions between the M1 motorway, A5 and A428 roads, 4 miles (6 km) east of Rugby and 6 miles (10 km) north of Daventry; it has a rail connection from the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line.

Rail link into DIRFT from the West Coast Main Line

The original development of approximately 120 ha (300 acres) was built during the 1990s. of which only DIRFT South (DIRFT Railport) had a direct rail connection. An extension, often referred to as DIRFTII, of about 54 ha (130 acres) received planning permission in 2005, and is designed to have all facilities rail connected – the first occupier of DIRFT2 was Tesco, whose distribution centre reached completion in late 2011.

A second extension DIRFTIII, also rail connected, is now underway.

History

DIRFT
Original development:
A – DIRFT south
B – DIRFT Central
C – DIRFT east
  Urban,   A road,   Minor road,   Rail line (dotted in tunnel),   Other industrial/commercial

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal is part of a land development project undertaken by Severn Trent Water on a 430 acres (174 ha) site near Crick in Northamptonshire.[1] The location, at junction 18 of the M1 motorway in close proximity to the A5, A14 and M6 roads had been identified as early as 1978 as a "motorway orientated growth point".[2] The ground area of the original DIRFT development is divided into three sections: DIRFT Central 40 acres (16 ha), DIRFT East 130 acres (53 ha), and DIRFT South 140 acres (55 ha) by the A5 and A428 roads.[3]

The site first became operational on 27 May 1997, and was officially opened in November 1997 by Anne, Princess Royal,[4][5][6] at inception the facility included a 475,000 square feet (44,100 m2) warehouse operated for road haulage operator Eddie Stobart Logistics.[6] The rail connected terminal was operated by Tibbett and Britten;[6] construction of a 210,000 sq ft (20,000 m2) rail connected warehouse was started in 1998,[7] a second 265,000 sq ft (24,600 m2) facility was constructed in 2000.[8]

DIRFT was one of the earliest post-Channel Tunnel road-rail intermodal terminals – the site includes rail connected terminals and traditional warehousing was designed to act as a regional node for rail freight flows to and from the Port of Felixstowe and the Channel Tunnel,[9] it forms part of the UK network of the Trans-European Combined Transport network.[7]

The site was primarily developed by Severn Trent Property, part of Severn Trent Water.[10] Early occupiers included Royal Mail,[11] Tesco ('Fastway RDC' operated by DHL) (closed 2009),[12][13] and Mothercare.[14] In 2004, 74 acres (30 ha) of undeveloped land on the site with a capacity for 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2) of warehousing was sold to a joint venture between British Land and Rosemund;[15][16] British Land subsequently let its holding to several customers including a 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m2) warehouse let to Tesco in 2005.[17]

Severn Trent plc sold its holding in DIRFT, as well as the 130 acres (53 ha) DIRFTII site to Prologis in 2006.[10][18] In 2008 Malcolm Rail became the operator of the railport at DIRFT.[19]

DIRFTII
  DIRFT2 extension

In 2005 planning permission was granted for a rail connected 130 acres (54 ha) westward expansion of the original site with a built ground area of over 1,900,000 sq ft (180,000 m2).[3] The DIRFTII expansion was designed for rail connected warehousing allowing transfer between sea or channel tunnel born rail-freight and road transport or warehouse storage. Plans included facilities for containerised and side-loaded palletised rail freight.[20]

Tesco acquired a 840,000 sq ft (78,000 m2) grocery distribution centre in 2011, constructed by VolkerFitzpatrick (main contractor),[21][22] construction work was completed in September 2011.[23] As part of the development, a rail tunnel was built under the A5 road to connect DIRFTII to the rail network via the original DIRFT railport.[24]

DIRFTIII

A further 7.5 million sq.ft. extension, DIRFTIII, was proposed for construction on the former Rugby radio station site to the northwest of the current development. The proposal also included a large area 170 acres (70 ha) of green space, named Lilbourne Meadows. The development is a joint venture between ProLogis and Rugby Radio Station Limited Partnership (RRSLP) (BT and Aviva). The DIRFTIII site would also be rail connected, with over 7,500,000 sq ft (700,000 m2) of warehousing over 400 acres (163 ha) of land plus a 8.6 acres (3.5 ha) HGV parking site. A related development is the Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) built to the west of DIRFT as a suburb of Rugby – with over 6,000 homes planned.[25][26] The development took on the name of Houlton and the first homeowners moved in during December 2017.

A planning application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) was submitted in 2011, and was approved in July 2014.[27]

See also

References
  1. "Annual Report and Accounts 2001" (PDF). Severn Trent. Property, p. 11. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  2. Sources:
  3. Sources:
  4. Daventry Railport Opens Rail Express issue 15 August 1997 page 10
  5. HRH Princess Royal opens terminal Rail issue 319 3 December 1997 page 7
  6. "Severn Trent Property develops facilities in the UK, primarily for distribution, retail and industrial sectors (reproduced from Hemmington Scott annual report)", www2.hemscott.com, Hemmington Scott Ltd, archived from the original on 26 January 2013, retrieved 21 January 2012, In July 1997, the International Rail Freight Terminal at Daventry, Northamptonshire, became operational. The railport, which is operated by Tibbett & Britten Plc, was officially opened by the Princess Royal on 13 November 1997, together with 475,000 sq ft of warehouse and office space developed on the site by Eddie Stobart Limited
  7. "TURF CUT AT DIRFT FOR NEW DISTRIBUTION CENTRE", www.hayesanderson.com, 27 August 1998, archived from the original on 25 January 2013, retrieved 21 January 2012
  8. Sources:
  9. John Ratcliffe; Michael Stubbs; Miles Keeping (2009), Urban planning and real estate development (3 ed.), Routledge, Freight Villages, pp.596–597
  10. Sinead Cruise (18 October 2006), "ProLogis secures Severn Trent properties", www.building.co.uk, retrieved 21 January 2012
  11. "Consignia chooses DIRFT for £40m postal hub", m.propertyweek.com, 1 November 2002, retrieved 21 January 2012
  12. "Tesco – we will not sacrifice food space", The Grocer, 1 November 2003, retrieved 21 January 2012
  13. "Tesco closes Fastway DC", www.logisticsmanager.com, 13 March 2009, archived from the original on 15 September 2012, retrieved 21 January 2012
  14. "Mothercare focuses on a planned delivery", The Telegraph, 21 August 2002, retrieved 21 January 2012
  15. "Part of dIRft sold", www.logisticsmanager.com, 1 May 2004, archived from the original on 27 January 2013, retrieved 21 January 2012
  16. British Land and Rosemound acquire at DIRFT, British Land, 5 April 2004, archived from the original on 21 January 2012, retrieved 21 January 2012
  17. "British Land/Rosemound jv lets 750,000 sq ft to Tesco at Dirft, Daventry (UK)", www.europe-re.com, 17 March 2005, retrieved 21 January 2012
  18. Disposal, Severn Trent, 6 November 2006, archived from the original on 19 April 2012, retrieved 21 January 2012
  19. Jim Clark (27 September 2011), "Scotland's Transport Future In A Changing World" (PDF), iatp.info, WH Malcolm Ltd, retrieved 21 January 2012
  20. "Prologis RFI DIRFTII Daventry" (PDF), www.prologisrfidirft.co.uk, ProLogis, retrieved 21 January 2012
  21. Sources:
  22. "Northamptonshire logistics go green", www.northamptonshireletyourselfgrow.com, 22 July 2011, retrieved 21 January 2012
  23. "Tesco's building goes up at DIRFT", www.logisticsmanager.com, 20 September 2011, archived from the original on 26 March 2012, retrieved 21 January 2012
  24. Sources:
  25. "Thousands of new jobs in major DIRFT expansion", Rugby Advertiser, 2 February 2011, retrieved 21 January 2012
  26. "DIRFT III – PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE" (PDF), dirftiii.com, retrieved 21 January 2012
  27. "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal approval confirmed". BBC. Retrieved 8 December 2015.

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