Three buildings. Eleven acres of water.
Aire sits on a former gravel works between the river and the canal, four minutes from junction 45 of the M1. Two units are complete and letting; the third finishes in the spring.
The wetland came first. The buildings were drawn around it.
The site floods, and always has. Instead of raising the ground and pushing the water downstream, we gave it eleven acres to go to. The reed beds clean the run-off from the yards, the footpath around them is open to anyone, and the buildings sit a metre higher than the hundred-year flood line.
Built for the shift that starts at six.
Cycle store and showers at the front door, not round the back. A bus stop inside the site, agreed with the operator before planning. Daylight across the full warehouse floor, because that is where people spend their day. The occupier at unit one, Fenwick Logistics, reports staff turnover at half its previous site.
