SOME of the borough's business community were given a tour of the two warehouse units at the M6 Major development.

Businesses were taken around the warehouse sites as part of the Invest St Helens' Ambassadors scheme.

READ MORE > Amazon unit set to open in September, creating 250 'initial jobs'

Bericote Properties won permission to develop the warehouses at the green belt site at Florida Farm in Haydock in 2017 after a major planning battle.

'Unit 1', which is to be used by online retail giant Amazon as a "sortation centre", is as a "34,114m sq commercial/industrial building".

St Helens Star:

The Amazon unit

The centre will sort parcels received from Amazon’s fulfilment centres before they are transported to delivery stations, where they are collected by drivers and taken to customers.

It also consists of office and welfare hubs and the provision of associated infrastructure including roads, parking, footpaths, internal landscaping, noise mitigation measures and sustainable urban drainage systems.

The premises will create 250 permanent jobs initially and it is understood the site has the capability to employ between 800 and 1,000 workers if demand grows.

The number of jobs initially to be housed at the unit is significantly less than the 1,000 touted by developers at planning meetings, a figure greeted with cynicism by residents who campaigned against the development.

Amazon says it hopes to "expand as business allows".

St Helens Star:

Inside Unit 2

Meanwhile, Unit 2, described as a "speculative" build is a "48,634m sq commercial/industrial building".

Developers say it has been "designed to suit large, blue chip domestic or international logistics operators".

An occupier has not yet been announced for this site.

Meanwhile, Bericote also plans to create a third smaller warehouse at the site.

St Helens Star:

Unit 2