Torque invests in the future with Wakefield site expansion

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Just some of the work that has been completed over the past three years includes the removal of the old sorter, an epic undertaking, which saw over 40 tonnes of steel being removed and allowing the recovery of 30,000+ sq ft. of space, the implementation of new Warehouse Management Systems and now the latest extension.

A little on the build

The build has been an exciting project, which has required the input and expertise of over 50 members of staff, with just one section requiring a combined total of 30 workers, six weeks to build. This impressive structure contains:

  • 14,000 bricks (weighing 39,200kg or roughly 6 and a half elephants)
  • 300 cubic metres of concrete (equivalent to over 520,000 pints of milk)
  • 1750sqm of cladding and 3000sqm of roofing sheets
  • 9000m of cabling (29 times the height of The Shard)
  • 5km of sprinkler pipework (which would take the average person 20 minutes to run)

We would like to say a huge thank you to every member of the Torque team who helped make this happen, with special mentions to:  Ann Hall, Site Manager; Gary Skews, Health and Safety Manager; Jim Mosley, Head of Facilities and Roy Firth, Facilities Manager.

“Since taking over the site we have secured the jobs of over 100 staff. We have invested a further £3m since occupation, changing the hub from a single customer site to a multi-customer site increasing the headcount to over 250. The new extension will allow us to continue this growth.”

Over the past year, work has been taking place at Torque’s Wakefield (Kettlethorpe) site to expand the warehouse and allow more room for our growing customer base. The expansion will create a warehouse footprint of 187,700 sq ft. with a total available floor space of 463,000 sq ft.

The Wakefield site was expanded back in 1999 and in 2015, was taken over by Torque, who continued to manage the operations out of the distribution centre. Now, nearly 20 years later on from the original expansion, Torque are investing in the operations hub again, Stewart Firth, Operations Director says: