Amazon's new Edinburgh warehouse sparks 1-hour delivery hopes

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SUPERFAST one-hour Amazon deliveries could soon be rolled out across Edinburgh after it emerged that the retail giant is opening a new warehouse.

Amazon Prime is taking over a 9398 sq ft distribution warehouse at 7Hills business park on Bankhead Crossway South, near the City Bypass.

Details of the let were released after the park and surrounding development land were snapped up by Citivale and Peveril Securities for £5.15 million.

But yesterday Amazon declined to comment on its plans for the site – and what it might mean for the Capital.

Amazon’s Prime Now service allows paid-up Amazon Prime members to get delivery within one hour for £6.99, or within a two-hour, same-day window for no additional cost.

The cutting-edge service has already been introduced at a number of cities down south – including London, Birmingham and Newcastle – but has yet to be rolled out in Scotland.

But Amazon previously said its operations are “continuing to expand within the UK”, and last November the company launched same-day deliveries for members of its Prime service in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

City business expert Graham Birse said he had yet to hear anything about the retail giant’s latest move in the Capital – but added that a location beside the City Bypass certainly offered Amazon quick and easy access to anywhere in the city.

Amazon Prime will occupy one of three existing units at the 40,372 sq ft 7Hills business park, with BT set to take over a second. Citivale and Peveril Securities said they plan to build a further 82,000 sq ft of “high quality, multi-let industrial units” on the site.

James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of Citivale, said 7Hills – named after the seven hills that surround Edinburgh – was a “superbly well-located business park with huge potential”.

He said: “The Amazon Prime letting is a resounding endorsement of 7Hills and confirms the demand in the Edinburgh city region for top-quality industrial space. It also gives us the confidence to potentially develop further industrial units, which would be some of the first to be built in Edinburgh since the downturn.

“7Hills fits in perfectly with Citivale’s ethos of buying well-located assets and using our skills and knowledge to reposition them through comprehensive refurbishment and further development.

“We strongly believe that the lack of availability of quality industrial space and development land in west Edinburgh will make 7Hills extremely popular with potential occupiers. It is already attracting serious interest.”

He added: “This is our first joint venture with Peveril Securities, who have an established background in the commercial property market with a track record of delivering large-scale developments across the country.”

Other businesses in the surrounding area include Edinburgh Audi, Royal Mail, Screwfix, Topps Tiles, Howden’s, City Electrical Factors, BT, JCB and Autoglass.