Robot powered UK fulfilment centre live in Northampton as Amazon announces second new site in Kettering
Amazon has opened a new fulfilment centre in Northampton and announced plans for a second major site in nearby Kettering, taking its investment in a single county to more than £1 billion and creating over 4,000 jobs.
The developments come one year after it committed to stump up £40 billion in the UK from 2025 to 2027 - the largest investment in the company's history outside the US - with more than £15 billion thus far delivered. Amazon’s Northampton fulfilment centre is pitched as one of the most advanced logistics operations in the country, with thousands of robots working alongside employees on three floors. The Kettering site will be the UK’s largest cross-dock facility, sorting and routing customer items across the country.
Amazon has also expanded its London headquarters in Shoreditch with the opening of a third building, bringing around 6,000 employees together on a single campus.
The 900,000-square-foot Kettering site will process around 20 million items each week, creating more than 2,000 permanent jobs and hundreds of seasonal roles. Recruitment is under way for engineers, HR and IT professionals, finance specialists, and operations teams. The announcement comes as customer deliveries begin at Amazon's new £500 million fulfilment centre in Northampton, where a further 2,000 jobs will be created.
John Boumphrey, Amazon UK Country Manager, says: “A year ago we said we planned to invest £40 billion in the UK. Today you can see what that means - from 4,000 jobs in Northamptonshire and 2,000 in Hull, to drone deliveries from Darlington, a new tech HQ in Swansea. We said we'd deliver and we have. And we're only a year in.”
Gareth Davies, Amazon Regional Director, says: "As someone from Northampton, I am proud to see this county become one of the most important regions in our UK network. Our new fulfilment centre is up and running with cutting-edge robotics, a modern working environment, and genuine career development opportunities. With another £500 million facility on the horizon, this is an incredibly exciting time for our teams and the wider community."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Supply chain technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
