Joint venture developer and investor Richardson Barberry has agreed pre-let terms with parcel delivery firm DPD for a major distribution centre at a new £100 million business park in the North East.

DPD has signed a 25-year lease on a 63,000 sq ft warehouse unit on an eight-acre site at Forrest Park, located next to Junction 59 of the A1(M) at Newton Aycliffe, Durham.

The new hub is expected to safeguard 125 jobs for County Durham and generate up to another 250 as part of the new built-to-suit DPD building at Forrest Park.

Jon Robinson, development director for Barberry, said: “This is a major pre-let to DPD, an internationally recognised occupier, which demonstrates the quality of our proposed development at Forrest Park. The pre-let will allow us to open up the site and create additional estate infrastructure and development plateaus. This is an exciting moment for the North East, Richardson Barberry and Forrest Park.

“We are thrilled to have agreed a 25-year lease with DPD. This deal has already prompted other potential occupiers who have shown interest in Forrest Park. We can deliver building opportunities on both freehold and leasehold terms from 30,000 sq ft up to 1m sq ft.”

Louise Ferguson, head of property for DPD Group UK Ltd, said: “We are absolutely delighted to agree terms. It is a great location for us. The new facility is part of DPD’s aim to be the most sustainable delivery company in the UK and a leader in the move to electric delivery vehicles.”

Durham County Council approved the company’s plans for the first phase development of 830,500 sq ft of warehouse/logistics space on 42 acres of the 116-acre site at Forrest Park.

Over the next ten years the park could provide upto 1.8 million sq ft of industrial space and create more than 3,000 jobs, boosting County Durham’s economy by almost half a billion pounds.