The French firm has appointed global integrated property group Goodman to develop the property on its behalf: a 330,000-square-foot-parcel hub on the site, close to J1 of the M69. DPD hopes to begin building work in September of this year.

The project reflects DPD's long-term investment plans and commitment to the area announced in November 2012 and follows a period of huge growth for the parcel carrier, thanks to its Predict service, which provides customers with a one-hour delivery window.

Once developed, the hub will service the growing need for efficient parcel delivery associated with the rise of online shopping in the UK. Since the start of the recession in 2009, DPD has increased its sales by more than 50 percent and is expanding in order to meet the growing demand from the home delivery sector.

The new hub, which will be the largest of its kind in Europe, will be capable of handling 70,000 parcels an hour and will increase DPD's overall parcel capacity by 65 percent. In total, the site will cover an area the size of 33 acres while the hub building itself will be around 470 meters long.

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