St. Modwen Logistics launches Swan Standard
Throughout 2020 – and despite the COVID-19 pandemic – St. Modwen Logistics has been working with its partners and supply chain to craft a philosophy around the design, build and maintenance of its portfolio of St. Modwen Park developments, home to some of the world’s leading logistics businesses, including Ocado Retail, international courier DHL, and XPO Logistics.
Known as the Swan Standard, the developer’s latest commitment brings St. Modwen’s core purpose to life – Changing Places. Creating Better Futures – and arrives as logistics firms across the UK look to meet ambitious carbon neutrality targets and enhance the health and wellbeing of their employees.
In what is a wholly holistic overview of its schemes, and with a clear focus on its customers’ needs, St. Modwen Logistics is dedicated to enhancing everything from its master planning of projects, its product specification to the long-term management and maintenance of its parks. The Swan Standard will ensure its highly sought-after core offering is supplemented with enhancements across five key areas: environment and sustainability, wellbeing, community, transport, and security. Such enhancements include commitments to drive its ambitions to achieve net zero carbon developments with further reductions in embodied and operational carbon by delivering BREEAM Excellent buildings with EPC ratings of A and better.
Sustainability is hardwired into the Swan Standard’s DNA and buildings have heating, cooling, water consumption and lighting that is designed to reduce running costs. In addition to this, low carbon products and designs drive the company towards net zero carbon targets; robust detailing and product choice enhances the look, feel and longevity of the buildings; The high-quality building components will ensure that the unit is built to last, providing less cause for refurbishment, and sustainable sourcing of products that are recyclable help to reduce the building’s impact on the planet.
The Swan Standard will not only benefit the wider environment, but people who work on and visit the parks will also reap the rewards of well enabled spaces internally and externally. This will help the company continue to deliver on its commitments to achieve 10% bio-diversity net gains on its new developments.
These developments will be enhanced to further enable our customers to safely operate in and cohabit the parks. All buildings are designed with flexibility in mind, with under croft space for canteens, free and easy movement around the buildings, customer plant space above offices, reception space, and service infrastructure adaptability to cope with customer fit out.
Not only does the Swan Standard focus on site density, but it also considers a number of other facets such as site history, topography, road layouts and hierarchy, people movement, and building positioning. It also considers the local community’s needs and seeks to ensure that they are fully met or exceeded.
With one of the UK’s largest logistics development pipelines at c. 19m sq ft – 45% of which already has planning – St. Modwen Logistics plans to deliver a further c. 1.5m sq ft of new urban and big box logistics units in 2021 in key locations across the UK as businesses continue to bolster their supply chains. This figure is up 25%, meaning St. Modwen is delivering even more space than in 2020.
Our Swan Standard philosophy is a significant pillar of the core St. Modwen purpose and is going to make a huge difference to all of our developments and customers. Our sites will now exceed the very highest specifications that modern, forward thinking and responsible customers expect and we believe that the Swan Standard certifies our status as one of the leading names in the logistics space.
“Our work will also have a positive impact on the environment and communities that our developments serve, helping us work towards our carbon neutrality targets. From major e-commerce companies and logistics firms to leading regional businesses, we are committed to delivering high-quality logistics units for our customers and, through good design and the thoughtfulness of wellbeing features, St. Modwen Logistics’ buildings with the Swan Standard will provide the company and its customers with premises that are fit for purpose today and into the future.”
Richard Carter, Senior Director – Construction at St. Modwen Logistics
The Swan Standard is currently being deployed across two of St. Modwen Logistics’ flagship schemes in Tamworth in the Midlands and Chippenham in the South West, which already feature operational net zero carbon buildings, enhanced EV charging points and sustainable power generation via PV solar cells. We have also addressed our customers’ well-being aspirations with fitness trails for employee wellbeing, while Chippenham has a shuttle service in place, ready to serve occupiers and their workforces.
The code serves as a set of guidelines that will enhance both new and existing schemes to truly deliver on St. Modwen’s Responsible Business ambitions and follows the appointment of former JLL director Fran Leedham as Head of Responsible Business in early 2021. Announced last year, the developer’s ambitious aims focus on six core areas that will make a sustained difference to society and the environment, including a commitment to being operationally net zero carbon by 2025. The Swan Standard building has been designed to exceed the current benchmark of the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge by 35%.
For more information, visit: https://stmodwenlogistics.co.uk/sustainability/swan-standard/
