MP and UKWA CEO visit Granby for National Year of Warehousing

The national 2024 Year of Warehousing campaign, announced by Minister Richard Holden MP at the House of Lords in October, continued last week as Clare Bottle, CEO of the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA), arrived in Blackburn as part of her nationwide tour of 80 UK warehouses to showcase this important sector.

Clare Bottle visited Granby, along with local MP, Kate Hollern to tour the company’s extensive facilities and learn more about the company. The visit was jointly hosted by Granby managing director, Caroline Noblett, and Granby head of client relationships / business development, Victoria Pittman. 

2024 The Year of Warehousing campaign marks the 80th anniversary of the UK Warehousing Association and this visit recognised Granby’s own close relationship with the UKWA - Victoria Pittman sits on the UKWA membership board - as well as Granby’s own focus on many of the issues close to the heart of The Year of Warehousing campaign. 

The visit enabled Granby to demonstrate how it embraces social value responsibilities within the circular economy, as well as reducing its own carbon footprint. Granby is also supporting UKWA efforts and strategies to gain wider recognition for the industry, across government, media, and the general public.

Accordingly, the company was delighted to welcome Kate Hollern MP to learn more about Granby’s warehousing operations and hear firsthand how social value is delivered within the local area. 

As part of the visit, Granby introduced two key charity partners, Jaydee Davis from the Community & Business Partners, and John Galloway from Speed of Sight. Both John and Jaydee shared how their initiatives for the community are supported and strengthened through partnership with Granby. This particularly relevant as UKWA is committed to raising awareness of the numerous job opportunities available in the sector, including roles for job seekers in our disability communities.

Commenting on the visit, Victoria Pittman said: "We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to support the UKWA's 2024 The Year of Warehousing campaign. It was an absolute delight to welcome Clare and our local MP, Kate Hollern, to our facility here in Blackburn. This visit provided a fantastic chance for our team at Granby, and especially our warehousing team, to take a break from our busy schedules and discuss strategies to help gain wider recognition for our industry. 

"We were also able to make time for some productive discussions with Kate and Clare on how to engage more closely with the government around Social Value issues. On this point, we had the chance to connect with Clare and our charity partners from Speed of Sight and Community & Business Partners to explore ways to help put Social Value on the UKWA agenda. 

"This visit definitely reinforced the importance of face-to-face meetings and the value they bring to these important discussions. We wish Clare every success with the remaining 76 warehouse visits!"

About Granby

Granby has been the trusted fulfilment partner to some of the best-loved household brands and public sector organisations for more than 60 years. With a reputation for going above and beyond, Granby handles every aspect of a client project from start to finish. Granby warehousing includes palletised storage, short or long-term storage, mixed use racked warehousing & floor standing, a secure caged area, quality control checking, physical stock counts, 24/7 real-time online stock reporting analysis and on-site security & CCTV surveillance.  

Granby work across a 77,000 sq ft warehouse facility, which includes 7,000 pallet locations, on-site security, and BRC-certified status. Our flexible & scalable warehousing solutions are supported by an intelligent Warehouse Management System (WMS), which reports on all movements and transactions. This bespoke warehousing system, a module within our fulfilment system SCOPe, can generate consignment packing instructions, optimum consignment weight, best despatch methods, and tracks all stock to ensure accurate stock management and traceable throughout the warehousing journey.