IN Brief:
- Russell WBHO will deliver a £13m cold storage facility for StoreLogs in Wakefield.
- The 46,250 sq ft unit will add more than 12,800 pallet spaces at South Kirkby.
- The building will be temperature controlled to -24C and include refrigeration, insulated cladding, racking, and M&E services.
Russell WBHO has been appointed to deliver a £13m cold storage facility for StoreLogs in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
The design-and-build contract covers a 46,250 sq ft temperature-controlled unit at StoreLogs’ existing depot and head office in Langthwaite Business Park, South Kirkby. The project will add more than 12,800 pallet spaces, increasing capacity for cold-chain warehousing and distribution.
The single-skin building will be temperature controlled to -24C and fitted with refrigeration technology designed to exceed UK best-practice benchmarks for energy performance. Russell WBHO will also install insulated cladding, mobile racking, mechanical and electrical services, and an external service yard.
Construction is now under way, with completion scheduled for May 2027. StoreLogs is investing in the additional space to support demand from food manufacturers, retailers, and supply-chain operators across the North.
Russell WBHO is a member of the Cold Chain Federation and has delivered more than 1m sq ft of temperature-controlled storage space nationally. Its cold-chain portfolio includes work for Lineage Logistics, NFT Logistics and TNT, Mawdsleys, and wholesalers at Manchester’s Smithfield Market.
Cold storage construction has become one of the more technically demanding parts of the industrial building market. The shell is only one part of the asset. Performance depends on refrigeration design, thermal continuity, insulated envelope quality, vapour control, door systems, energy monitoring, racking layouts, M&E resilience, and the ability to protect product integrity through loading, storage, and dispatch.
That complexity changes the contractor’s role. A cold store must be designed as a process-led building, where refrigeration systems, cladding, structure, slab, drainage, fire safety, power, and warehouse operations are coordinated from the outset. Thermal bridging, air leakage, poor door sequencing, or inefficient plant can create long-term operational penalties for the client.
The -24C operating requirement will place particular emphasis on the envelope and refrigeration interfaces. Insulated cladding, high-speed doors, temperature zoning, condensation management, service penetrations, and slab performance all have to be controlled carefully. A cold store can be delivered through an industrial construction route, but it cannot be treated as a standard warehouse with refrigeration added late in the programme.
The investment also reflects the changing geography of logistics demand. Cold-chain operators need access to manufacturers, retailers, trunk roads, labour, and existing distribution networks. Expanding at South Kirkby allows StoreLogs to increase capacity at an established site without relocating operations, although working on or around an active logistics platform brings constraints around access, segregation, safety, yard management, and business continuity.
Energy performance is becoming a larger commercial factor for cold storage operators. Refrigeration is power-intensive, and electricity costs, carbon reporting, grid constraints, and customer sustainability requirements are increasingly influencing specification. A better-performing cold store can reduce operating costs over the life of the asset, making plant selection and envelope quality part of the investment case rather than a technical afterthought.
The project sits within a broader industrial construction trend in which buildings are becoming more operationally specific. Logistics, food production, pharmaceutical storage, battery manufacturing, data centres, and advanced manufacturing all rely on technical systems that define the building’s value. Contractors are therefore being asked to coordinate business-critical assets, rather than simply deliver generic industrial space.
That favours teams with sector experience. Cold stores require knowledge of refrigeration interfaces, specialist subcontractors, commissioning requirements, food-sector expectations, and operational handover. They also demand discipline around sequencing, as racking, refrigeration, doors, floor tolerances, and mechanical services must align before commissioning and occupation can begin.
For StoreLogs, the South Kirkby facility will expand pallet capacity and support demand from food and supply-chain clients. For Russell WBHO, the award strengthens its cold-chain workload at a time when temperature-controlled logistics continues to attract investment. The commercial driver is clear: food, retail, and pharmaceutical supply chains need reliable cold space, while operators are under pressure to expand without letting energy performance slip.
