What this is. Five UK operations that have publicly committed to goods-to-person automation in the last nine months. Each one has chosen automation, which means the hard argument — does this pay back — is already won internally. What is usually still open at this stage is scope: additional lines, later phases, adjacent sites, and second-source quotes during design.
Why these and not a list of warehouses. A list of UK distribution centres is a directory. These are companies at a specific moment: budget approved, integrator chosen, build underway. That moment has a short shelf life, which is the whole point of sending it now.
Two things worth knowing before you call. This is THG Fulfil’s first
AutoStore implementation for an external retailer, so the integrator is newer to this than the
vendor is. And Footasylum opened a staff consultation over DC roles alongside the investment
— handle the labour angle carefully.
Not verified: no public source names which warehouse the grid goes into. Rochdale is
the HQ, not a confirmed grid location. Ask, don’t assert.
| Who to reach | Title | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Hannah Mercer | Chief Executive Officer | Quoted in the AutoStore announcement. “We are committed to investing in the infrastructure that will support the business today and long into the future.” Director since 1 May 2026. |
| Garry Plumpton | Head of Logistics Operations | The operational owner — 30+ years senior logistics, previously JD Sports. Based Oldham. Title from aggregator sources, not a company page: confirm before using. |
Source: AutoStore newsroom, 30 Jun 2026 · Logistics Manager, 1 Jul 2026 · Companies House officers
The cleanest fit of the five. Robinson is the applicant on its own operating site — not a developer, not an SPV. Group revenue £56.4m, so a 4,000-pallet build is a material capital decision made by people you can actually reach. And there is no evidence of any existing warehouse automation: the only robotics on record is manufacturing kit from the 1970s–80s. No incumbent to displace.
| Who to reach | Title | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| John Melia | Chief Executive Officer, Robinson plc | Also a director of the Kirkby subsidiary (appointed 20 Dec 2024). Chairs the monthly Senior Executive Committee that runs operations; annual report cites “significant manufacturing expertise” and “operational performance improvement”. At £56m group and 135 on site, this is a CEO-level capex call. |
| Mike Cusick | Finance Director, Robinson plc | Also a director of the Kirkby subsidiary (appointed 13 Jan 2022). The capex approver, not the specifier. Secondary. |
Be straight about this one: Robinson publishes no operations or site leader — the 2024 annual report names none, and neither does Companies House. These two are the right call by inference, not by title. The site-level name is most likely in the 2025 annual report or on the Ashfield planning file itself.
Source: PlanIt — Ashfield V/2026/0377 · Robinson plc board · Companies House
This is DHL Supply Chain’s first AutoStore deployment in the UK, which
cuts both ways: no entrenched vendor relationship for this technology in this market, but a
corporate procurement process you will not shortcut.
Not verified: the exact Derby address / business park is not in the release.
| Who to reach | Title | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Natalie Frow | MD, Retail & Ecommerce, DHL Supply Chain | The best functional fit — this is the P&L that owns the Derby shared-user FC. Interviewed specifically on automation and AI in fulfilment (Dec 2025). Nine months old, so re-check the title before sending. |
| Martin Willmor | CEO, DHL Supply Chain UK & Ireland | Quoted in the Derby announcement. Very current (March 2026). Above the decision, but the name that opens a door. |
| Chris Hall | VP of Logistics, Asda | Quoted in the same release. Customer-side automation owner, not a DHL employee — a separate account in his own right. |
Source: Logistics Manager on the DHL release, Mar 2026 · Retail Week interview, 5 Dec 2025
The angle here is adjacency, not replacement. The AutoStore core is
new and staying. What sits around it — conveyors, sortation, AMRs, pallet movement
— is the open question. Note the integrator on the expansion was Kardex, not
AutoStore direct.
Conflicting figures: sources disagree on the before-robot count (65 vs 130). 130 is
almost certainly right. Don’t quote it.
| Who to reach | Title | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Steven Pitt | Head of Operations, Hams Hall site | Quoted in the AutoStore expansion announcement. Exact site, exact title, exact technology. The single best target on this list. |
| Dennis Schmitz | Managing Director, Arvato UK | Quoted in the same release. The UK decision-maker above the site. |
| Tim Godejohann | Project Lead, Logistics Engineering | Same release. The technical evaluator rather than the budget holder — the person who would actually assess your kit. |
| Announced | Value | Who | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 2026 | ~NOK 17m | “A leading UK e-commerce retailer” in tools, equipment and DIY | Completion “during the next year” |
| 22 Jan 2026 | ~NOK 100m | “A global e-commerce retailer” — their first AutoStore FC in the UK | Delivery over ~12 months |
Honest limit: StrongPoint names neither customer and there are no
identity clues in either release — no region, no site, no revenue band. These are a
sector-and-timing lead, not a named one. The realistic move is to ask who the integrator is
and offer a second-source quote during design.
One correction worth carrying: “first AutoStore fulfilment centre in the UK” in the
January release means that customer’s first, not the first in the UK.
Source: StrongPoint, 29 Jun 2026 · StrongPoint, 22 Jan 2026 · Oslo Børs filing
| Lead | The opening | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arvato Hams Hall Steven Pitt |
Head of Operations for the exact site, quoted in the expansion release. Proven expander, an hour away, buys on client growth. Pitch what sits around the AutoStore core, not against it. |
| 2 | Robinson Packaging John Melia |
They have said publicly they are out of space and are storing pallets outside. No existing automation, named applicant, own site, 50 minutes away. Ask what goes inside the new building. Weakest on who, strongest on why now. |
| 3 | Footasylum Garry Plumpton |
Going live this month on a rental model. Too late for this grid, right on time for the next site or the next phase. CEO fronted the announcement if you want to go high. |
| 4 | DHL Derby Natalie Frow |
Longest cycle, biggest prize. Shared-user means new zones for new tenants is the business model. 2027 go-live, so design is live now. Asda’s own VP of Logistics is a separate account. |
| 5 | The two unnamed | Sector and clock only. Worth 20 minutes to try to identify; worth nothing if you guess wrong. |
Every project here is verified against a primary source — a company press release, an Oslo Børs filing, a council planning record or Companies House. Every detail we could not confirm is marked as such rather than smoothed over, and where two sources conflict (Arvato’s robot count) the doc says so instead of picking the prettier number.
Seven named people, five of them quoted in the automation announcements themselves. That is deliberate: a person who fronted the press release has publicly attached their name to the decision, which is about as warm as a cold contact gets.
What is not here is a verified email address on each row. That is the next layer, and it is real work rather than a lookup: resolve the address, verify it is deliverable, and confirm the person is still in the seat. It is also where most bought lists quietly fail — a dormant mailbox at a former employer verifies as deliverable, which is exactly how a stale address ships. One gap is worth naming too: Robinson publishes no operations leader at all, so those two names are the right call by inference, not by title.