John Lewis Partnership to create 500 jobs at new Milton Keynes distribution centre
The John Lewis Partnership has signed an agreement with Tesco on the lease of a one million square foot distribution centre at Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes.
Due to become the partnership’s second largest distribution centre after its two million square foot site just four miles away at Magna Park, it will create jobs for 500 workers over the next two years.
The John Lewis Partnership said the 11 year lease will enable it to meet growing demand for online orders. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the John Lewis department store’s online sales have grown from 40% to over 60% of total sales.
Andrew Murphy, executive director of operations for the partnership said: “This one-of-a-kind distribution centre represents a fantastic opportunity to power the continued growth of Johnlewis.com, ensuring that we can keep pace with customer demand – both for our products and for our wide range of fulfilment and delivery options.
“We will use the Fenny Lock site to fulfil customer orders for fashion, small home furnishing items and technology products. The proximity to our Magna Park campus will enable us to combine more customer orders, reducing both the number of packages we create by approximately one million per year, and the number of lorries on the road, helping us to meet our target of being net zero carbon by 2035.”
The partnership is investing £50 million this year in the John Lewis website and app and is planning to create more virtual services and events. It has also signed a three year lease agreement for a 300,000 square foot distribution centre in Leicestershire which become operational this month and will be run by Clipper Logistics.
