Panic Transport DSV Warehouse, Europark, Clifton upon Dunsmore, Rugby

Type of works: drive-through canopy installed alongside warehouse. 

After moving to new, larger, leased premises to accommodate an ever-growing business, specialist logistics company Panic planned to load and unload their lorries alongside their new warehouse. The sensitive nature of many of the products handled by Panic made it imperative that the goods were protected from the weather at all times. The solution needed to be a freestanding canopy adjacent to the warehouse to facilitate a drive-through loading and unloading operation. The building would need to be wide and high enough to accommodate two articulated lorries side by side with room to manoeuvre forklift trucks and long enough to cover the entire length of the warehouse loading docks.

The solution was delivered within 6 weeks of order and constructed in just 10 days. It was completed all on time and all to budget.

The spacing of the loading docks in the new warehouse did not match the spacing of the standard Useful Structures system. A bespoke design was needed to accommodate this.

A 20 x 54 x 5.4m high canopy with bespoke bay spacing to accommodate loading docks, lighting and cladding to one side now ensures that goods are not compromised, whatever the weather, during loading and unloading operations.

Kevin Johnson, Director, Panic Transport said, "There were three major considerations when considering a solution to our loading challenges: relocatability, expandability, and bespoke design.

"Firstly, we needed something completely relocatable, by definition, a leasehold means we will be moving one day - relocatable was a 'no-brainer'.

"Expandable as, in common with most companies, we don’t know what our requirement will be in 3 years' time!"

"Thirdly it was obvious that, whatever solution we decided upon, it would need to have bespoke bay lengths to ensure there were no structural columns in the way of our irregularly placed loading docks."

"The Useful Structures team carried out a comprehensive site survey and measurements before providing us with the design we needed at a budget we could work with. Their 'no-nonsense' and safety-orientated approach to construction meant the absolute minimum of disruption to our operations and, above all, we are safe in the knowledge that our clients continue to receive their goods in A1 condition.

I am already looking into using Useful Structures in the future."