Online grocery retailer Ocado has struck a pre-let deal for a new customer fulfilment centre in South East London.

Planning permission is yet to be secured for the 560,000 sq ft warehouse to be built inside the M25 at Crossdox in Erith, but Ocado has agreed to take a 30-year lease on the depot. It will sit within a 35-acre site and act as an important logistics hub for the group to fulfil its growing capacity needs in London and the South East.

Real estate investment trust Tritax Big Box is providing £98.8m of funding for the project, which will be developed by Bericote Properties.

Construction work is set to start in the spring once the purchase is completed with the fit-out to be finished by the summer of 2016.  Ocado said the warehouse – its fourth distribution centre – would be operational by 2017.

News of the Erith depot comes after an announcement in November that Ocado had added a 14th “spoke” on a redeveloped Guinness Brewery site in West London, to support its operational hubs in Hertfordshire, and Warwickshire.

Ocado said it would reveal more details about the Erith site in its full-year financial results on 4 February.

Topics