Winvic Construction has been appointed a design stage delivery partner on one of Europe's largest new logistics development sites.

The West Midlands Interchange (WMI), the 734 acre Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) at M6 Junction 12, is a £1 billion project that will offer over 8m sq ft of commercial space, with state of the art units ranging from 200,000 to 1.2m sq ft, all supported by its own dedicated rail hub enabling multi-modal movement of goods around the UK.

The Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA) role is the first of four phases of the development programme, followed by early enabling works, infrastructure works and vertical unit delivery.

The site is one of a number of new SRFIs around the UK designed to enable occupiers to move increasing volumes of freight off our roads onto the rail network, with one rail freight carriage capable of replacing 44 to 72 HGV, and generating up to 70% less carbon.

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The site also boasts a range of other sustainability credentials, including providing 109 acres of country park to protect and promote biodiversity, and a wide range of renewable energy features, as well as providing 8,500 new jobs for the region during its development, construction and operation.

The project is being financed and delivered by Oxford Properties, the property arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS, in partnership with European developer Logistics Capital Partners (LCP), who are already working on a 15 acre scheme at Heathrow together. They acquired the WMI site in July 2021.

Rob Cook, Winvic's Director of Civils and Infrastructure added: "We're thrilled that Oxford Properties and LCP values Winvic’s sustainability credentials and experience in designing and constructing similar schemes, as well as our commitment to community and stakeholder collaboration. As the leading main contractor in the UK for delivering complex Strategic Rail freight Interchange (SRFI) projects, we're able to draw on our extensive project knowledge and assemble a skilful team to meet requirements, find innovative efficiencies and ultimately deliver the design stage output in a considered and forward-thinking way."