As part of the national 2024 Year of Warehousing campaign, announced by Minister Richard Holden MP at the House of Lords in October last year, CEO of the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) Clare Bottle, has visited Miniclipper Logistics in Leighton Buzzard, as part of a nationwide tour of 80 UK warehouses to showcase this important sector.
Clare Bottle was joined at Miniclipper Logistics by local MP, Andrew Selous, who toured the company’s facilities and heard more about innovation at the award-winning facility. The visit was hosted by Managing Director, Peter Masters.
2024 The Year of Warehousing campaign marks the 80th anniversary of the UK Warehousing Association, and this visit recognised Miniclipper Logistics’ leading role on the journey to sustainability for the sector and the importance of warehousing to the region’s economy.
The visitors heard that Miniclipper Logistics had achieved significant growth following the acquisition of a 95,000sq.ft site in Burton-Upon-Trent and the recent redevelopment of their site in Billington Road, Leighton Buzzard. This included the relocation of the 24-hour Distribution Centre to an industrial estate in nearby Dunstable, creating a dedicated warehousing facility with capacity to store up to 10,000 pallets.
Clare Bottle said, “Warehousing remains one of the fastest growing, yet least understood sectors in the UK. This is partly because people rarely see what happens inside these often-vast buildings, where millions of products are processed every day. Accordingly, the essential work warehouses provide has always been ‘behind the scenes’ and therefore to a large extent under-appreciated, yet the warehousing and logistics sector contributes £163bn GVA to the UK economy, is a major employer and force for social mobility.
2024 The Year of Warehousing aims to turn the spotlight onto the million plus people who work in warehousing, dispel outdated perceptions, and celebrate the role of the sector in our national life.
Miniclipper Logistics provides a superb example of warehousing at its best, embracing technology, investing significantly in renewable energy such as rooftop solar power, and placing people at the heart of everything they do.”
Commenting on the visit, Andrew Selous said “ It was a great pleasure to visit Miniclipper again, and I’m extremely proud of their tremendous growth story across Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Warehousing and logistics is an extremely important sector locally and nationally it employs over 8% of the UK workforce. Miniclipper is a brilliant family owned business which we are fortunate to have in our area.”
Peter Masters concludes, “ We were delighted to welcome Clare Bottle and Andrew Selous, MP to see the results of the significant investment that we have put into the Billington Road site in Leighton Buzzard, and present a business update to showcase our growth, sustainability progress and employee initiatives.
Andrew Selous, MP’s attendance to show his support for our local business was really appreciated. We now employ over 210 people, an increase of 31% since 2019 and the majority within Andrew’s local constituency, so we were thrilled to update Andrew on the growth of our business and how this has positively impacted the Central Bedfordshire area”.
About UKWA
The UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) is the leading trade organisation for the fast-growing UK warehousing sector. Around 1000 full members include third party warehousing and logistics service providers, as well as warehousing users such as retailers and manufacturers, who represent some 200 million sq ft of warehousing across the UK. UKWA Associate members are suppliers of products and professional services to the industry.
UKWA provides a powerful voice for the industry, representing members’ interests and views to policy makers and other influencers.
Its mission is to promote wider recognition and appreciation of the sector, while driving up industry standards, building community and supporting UKWA members.
About Miniclipper Logistics
Miniclipper Logistics is a flourishing 3PL offering tailored warehousing and distribution solutions for over 200 customers. Starting with 1 man and a van back in 1971, we have matured into a successful third-generation family business with over 200 employees.
We operate a 24-hour Distribution Centre from Dunstable and 5 warehouses with almost 600,000sq. ft of racked storage space for palletised goods and fulfilment services. We have over 50 vehicles in our delivery fleet which range from 7.5 tonne rigid vehicles to 44 tonne articulated vehicles for deliveries throughout the UK via our membership with leading pallet networks, Palletline and The Hazchem Network. Our warehouse locations are in Leighton Buzzard (2 sites), Houghton Regis, Dunstable and Burton-Upon-Trent.
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Samantha Reading
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