Pirelli transforming former Ceat factory site into new warehousing centre

Pirelli is constructing a new tyre warehouse to serve its industrial hub at Settimo Torinese in partnership with BGO Logistic Fund 1, which is backed by investment from BentallGreenOak and managed by Kervis SGR SpA, with GSE Italis acting as general contractor. The project will redevelop the industrial area where the Ceat factory once stood near Pirelli’s industrial hub with a view to creating “greater efficiency and environmental benefits”. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

The first step of the project sees Pirelli sell the former Ceat industrial area to BGO Logistic Fund 1, the real estate fund managed by Kervis SGR. This move makes way for GSE to build the 50,000 square metre warehouse at the centre of Pirelli’s plans. The site will then be being leased back to Pirelli for 15 years. The LEED Gold certified warehouse is therefore a textbook example of the ‘sale and lease back’ process. The project has already been approved by the municipality of Settimo Torinese.

The move also brings the Torinese site in line with the distribution model that Pirelli uses in its other production hubs around the world. And, as a result, the new warehouse will allow Pirelli to more effectively manage “the flow of tyres produced at the Settimo Torinese production hub, tyres that until today have been stored at a site in the province of Novara”, company representatives explained in a statement.

The new warehouse will also allow Pirelli to improve its service to clients. It will do this both through optimising the concentration of stock bound for car makers and export clients at the new location as well as “the further specialization of the warehouse at San Pietro Mosezzo (Novara)” for clients in the Italian market. According to Pirelli, operations management will be entrusted to the logistics partner that manages the service for Pirelli in Italy.

Pirelli expects to be able to reduce costs and achieve “significant improvements” in terms of sustainability as a result of the additional efficiencies that come with the new warehouse. The construction of the warehouse on the former industrial site, will also result in the reduction of CO2 emissions linked to the transfer of tyres and the generation of clean energy through the construction of a photovoltaic array of 1.2 MegaWatts. The construction of the new plant is part of a wider set of initiatives of the Settimo municipality. They include the development of further logistics-related real estate projects bordering the Pirelli facility and the creation of a botanical project as well as the redevelopment of the canal area of Bealera Nuova with tree planting along its main thoroughfare.

GSE Italia is the Italian subsidiary of GSE Group, founded in 1999 and located in Milan. GSE Italia’s focus is on a turn-key design and build engineering. GSE Group has over 450 employees and operates in seven European countries as well as China, producing logistics, industrial, retail, and special purpose buildings, with a turnover of 554 million euros in 2019.

BGO Logistic Fund 1BGO Logistic Fund 1 is a real estate fund invested by BentallGreenOak and focused on the logistic sector in Italy. BentallGreenOak serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with approximately US$50 billion of assets under management.