On Wednesday 6 September, the construction works for the new distribution centre for dairy company FrieslandCampina in Meppel were officially started by driving the first pile. This was done by Mayor Korteland of the Municipality of Meppel, Marcel van Berlo, General Director of District54 Vastgoed, and Gerard Menting, Corporate Director Real Estate of FrieslandCampina.

A new distribution centre of 31,000 m2 will arise in the industrial zone Meppel Noord II in Meppel in the coming months. The distribution centre will be used for storage and transfer of FrieslandCampina dairy products intended for the export markets and it will offer room for 45,000 pallets. With respect to employment, the distribution centre will provide about 35 jobs and it will comply with the most recent requirements in the areas of food safety and fire safety.

FrieslandCampina will store and transfer dairy products coming from its production locations in Beilen and Meppel in this distribution centre. These activities are presently spread over four warehouses in Hoogeveen, Heerenveen, Meppel and Veendam (all in the Netherlands). The decision for building a new distribution centre in Meppel was taken after a period of close consultation between FrieslandCampina, the Municipality of Meppel and District54 Vastgoed. FrieslandCampina will hire the new building after completion of the construction works.

Sustainable development

Apart from annual efficiency savings, a substantial reduction of 1.5 million transport kilometres will be achieved, which means a reduction of the emission of CO2 by 648,000 kg. The new building will be certified by BREEAM as ‘very good’, which means that the construction works are performed and in a sustainable way using sustainable materials. BREEAM certification is globally the most important and most commonly used sustainability certification for buildings. Here the aspects of management, health, energy, transport, water, materials, waste, land use, ecology and environment are assessed.

Industrial zone Noord II

The industrial zone Noord II has a lot of greenery and water and it provides entrepreneurs space to run their businesses. Industrial zone Noord II is directly opened up by the Meppel-Noord slip roads. Meppel is through the Lankhorst junction connected with the A32 and A28 motorways. Amsterdam and Groningen are quickly reachable as are Germany and Scandinavia.