Investing in tomorrow - 35,000 sq. ft. of new bespoke space

AGS is delighted to announce the construction of a new £5.5 million office and warehouse facility in London. Mario Amato, Managing Director of AGS Four Winds London, was thrilled to take the ceremonial spade and dig the first earth to lay the foundations.

The new site is located at Uxbridge in the London borough of Hillingdon, which is ideally located 4 miles from Heathrow Airport, and within the M25 London ring road for easy access to the motorway network and UK port systems.

The warehouse will be 35,000 square feet, 12 metres high and will accommodate both steamship containers and conventional storage vaults, stacked four high. The construction will include 6,000 square feet of new office space. The building will benefit from the latest developments in both IT and security systems, and AGS Four Winds London Head Quarters will be relocated from Park Royal to Uxbridge.

AGS Group Chairman, Mr Alain Taïeb, commented:

“The AGS Group is a multinational moving and storage organisation, trading from 126 locations worldwide. The UK, and more specifically the London Metropolitan area, is one of the world’s leading market areas for our activity. Our investment strategy is mid- to long-term, and even in these economically challenging times we are continuing with a positive and proactive investment strategy as we plan for the future. The AGS Group is also working on similar projects throughout our overseas networks in Africa, Asia, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe.”

We are particularly pleased that this new facility is environmentally friendly, with over £400,000 invested in 32m² of photovoltaic panels on the southern elevation. Photovoltaic panels use direct solar radiation and convert this to useable electricity, and are thus classified as a renewable on-site energy source. Like any other renewable energy source, the electricity produced will be utilised in the first instance and supplemented by grid-supplied electricity when necessary. As a result, carbon emissions at the site are greatly reduced, particularly as electricity is the energy source with the highest CO₂ emission factor.

We have also invested in air source heat pumps, which extract heat externally from the air, and this can then be used to heat buildings. This cycle can also be reversed to expel air from a building into the atmosphere, thus cooling the building. Air source heat pumps have high coefficients of performance which lead to a relatively small amount of energy used, in comparison to a large amount of heating or cooling produced. This high efficiency will lead to a marked reduction in the building’s carbon emissions, when compared with standard heating and cooling systems. The use of air source heat pumps at the AGS unit is a step forward in helping the UK meet its carbon reduction targets, under the Kyoto Protocol, and is a key part of the carbon reduction strategy for the site.

Through the use of both air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels, significant reductions in carbon emissions will be made throughout the site that will benefit not only AGS, but also the local community.

Our investment in green initiatives illustrates our group’s determination to minimise our carbon footprint, and marks our continued contribution towards reducing the impact of industry on the environment. We expect London's new facility to be completed towards the end of 2009 and hope to be operational at the site by early November 2009.

Best regards
Mario Amato

AGS Four Winds London