Property and construction consultancy Rider Levett Bucknall has been appointed as employer's agent, quantity surveyor and planning supervisor for one of HelioSlough's flagship distribution developments, Sheffield International Rail Freight Terminal (SIRFT).
The project, which will offer nearly one million square feet of high bay warehousing or distribution space with dedicated railway sidings, is strategically located just off Junction 33 of the M1.
The appointment follows the company's involvement with HelioSlough on the recently completed 750,000 square foot first phase at Nimbus Park, Thorne near Doncaster.
Commenting on the appointment, Andy Reynolds, partner at Rider Levett Bucknall in Manchester, said: "We are delighted to have been appointed to the project and to continue our relationship with HelioSlough.
"We are already managing £3.2m worth of rail enabling works and new sidings being constructed on site and, now the rail work is complete, construction work has begun on the first two units. These will offer approximately 330,000 and 290,000 square feet of space respectively and planning permission is also in place for a third unit. The first two units are programmed to be completed for the end of 2007."
The SIRFT site has been brought forward in collaboration with Network Rail and English, Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) and the development is designed to breathe new life into what was the former Tinsley Marshalling Yard.
The scheme is a continuation of HelioSlough's development of a national network of strategic distribution parks throughout the UK with each park having potential for one million square feet of distribution warehousing space.
HelioSlough is a leading advocate of rail linked distribution projects which, where practicable, offer substantial environmental and economic benefits and SIRFT is a further example of this forward-thinking strategy.