Geograph - photograph every grid square

Construction on this project started in late 2010 and is scheduled to open in summer 2011. Progress was recently covered by the local paper (Swindon Advertiser) here Link

Links to newspaper articles are often ephemeral so the text has been reproduced below:

"Gazeley on time for Swindon's biggest building

DEVELOPERS are right time on time to finish Swindon�s biggest ever building.
The �77m 796,649 sq ft [7.4 hectares] B&Q distribution centre at South Marston � the equivalent of 20 football pitches � will create 600 jobs and will be a regional hub to service B&Q stores across the south of England.

The building is on the triangle between Highworth Road and Kingsdown Road, off the A361 in an area which is known as Gazeley G-Park.

Work started in October and the building will be finished and handed over to B&Q next month. It should open in the summer.

Developer Gazeley�s development director Charles Blake said: �This development gives B&Q a high-quality logistics centre that incorporates superb eco-credentials as well as providing a huge boost to the local economy.
�This is the biggest development of its kind currently being built in the UK.
�We have been working closely with Swindon Council to make several improvements to the local road network as well as contributing �150,000 for the provision of local art and �700,000 to be invested in the Great Western Community Forest.�
�This is the first build-to-suit development to start at the G-Park Swindon site but there are still opportunities for businesses develop bases at this strategic location.�

Before building could start, the field had to be checked for ordnance because during the war Swindon was bombed 11 times and there might have been the risk of unexploded shells. But nothing was found.

Two graves dating back more than 2,000 years were discovered but experts reckoned that they were not historically important enough to be preserved.
There have been no major incidents during the work and no one has been seriously injured.

The empty house on the left hand side of the road going to Highworth Link will be used by the fire service for a training exercise today before demolition.
However, the 100-year-old walnut tree there will be kept.

The building will include a wide range of eco-measures, including the re-use of rainwater collected from the roof and solar panels to heat the water.
A solar wall will use renewable energy to heat and ventilate the building.
The development has substantial areas of new habitat and 500 new trees have been planted.

The current B&Q centre at Groundwell will be closed and the 125 staff employed there will be offered jobs at the new centre.

B&Q decided to look at its whole distribution across the country following a review and found it made sense to have a new regional centre in the south for high volume products, bringing goods closer to the stores.

The aim is to improve customer service and cut transport costs and CO2 emissions.

To enable people to follow the progress, a real-time webcam has been set up on the dedicated G-Park Swindon website: Link (Archive Link ) "

Technical note: this image was obtained from the stitching together of four exposures.