2024 The Year of Warehousing campaign marks the 80th anniversary of the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) and UKWA CEO Clare Bottle is visiting 80 warehouses around the UK to showcase this important sector. Recognising Wellingborough’s vital location for logistics, the very first visit took place here.
2024 The Year of Warehousing is a national campaign, announced in the House of Lords by Minister Richard Holden MP. It features an ambitious tour of 80 warehouses nationwide which kicked off at local business Visku, with UKWA CEO Clare Bottle, and Cllr. Valerie Anslow Mayor of Wellingborough, hosted by Visku CEO Andy Kaye.
Warehousing remains one of the fastest growing, yet least understood sectors in the UK. This is partly because people rarely see what happens inside these often vast buildings, where millions of products are processed every day. Accordingly, the essential work warehouses do has always been ‘behind the scenes’ and therefore to a large extent under-appreciated, yet the warehousing and logistics sector contributes £163bn GVA to the UK economy, is a major employer and force for social mobility.
Therefore, 2024 The Year of Warehousing aims to turn the spotlight onto the million plus people who work in warehousing, dispel outdated perceptions, and celebrate the role of the sector in our national life.
Commenting on the first milestone visit, Clare Bottle said, “Visku was chosen to be the first of my 80 visits not only for the location of its ‘Pallet Hotel’ in the ‘Golden Triangle’, but as an impressive example of state-of-the art-warehousing, a 335,000 sq. ft development that will offer the ultimate in storage flexibility with customer-centricity at the heart of its business. The occasion was a great success, with Mayor Valerie Anslow clearly amazed by the facility. Thanks go to Andy and his team for helping us showcase our great sector!”
Andy Kaye added, “We are strong supporters of UKWA’s 2024 The Year of Warehousing campaign and were delighted to welcome Clare Bottle and Cllr. Valerie Anslow to Visku. We are unusual in that we offer flexible storage-on-demand warehouse space with our Pallet Hotel, but also we’re supply chain consultants supporting business growth in the sector. We’ve recently rebranded to Visku, so our name isn’t necessarily well-known in the region even though we’re well established and partner with some of the biggest and best-known brands. I’d describe Visku as a quiet force in the industry, with over 200 customers, 500k+ pallets under management and £70m revenue. This has been a great opportunity for us to raise our profile outside of the industry and provide a first-hand insight into our business for our local community through the good offices of The Mayor.”
Cllr. Anslow confirmed that she had never been inside a warehouse before and found the visit inspirational, noting that driving a VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) vehicle is a skilled job and declaring that warehousing can be a great force for good in the local community.
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