Amazon's Dunfermline centre '˜poised for £54m sale'

Amazon's one million square foot distribution centre in Dunfermline is set to change hands in a commercial property investment deal worth about £54 million, it has been reported.

The Amazon facility in Fife was opened at the end of 2011. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Property information service CoStar said the online retailing giant’s site, which opened at the end of 2011, is poised to be bought by Dubai-based asset manager Rasmala in what would mark the “largest ever single-asset logistics deal north of the Border”.

The fulfilment centre, which received a £6.3m grant from the Scottish Government’s Scottish Enterprise Property Support Scheme for its development, was acquired in 2012 by property specialist Tritax for £43.2m. A spokesman for Tritax declined to comment when contacted by The Scotsman.

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Amazon, which signed a 20-year lease on the centre in 2011, came under fire in December when it emerged that some staff were living in tents in freezing conditions close to the Fife facility, located just off the M90 motorway.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the group “should be ashamed” over its treatment of workers, but Amazon insisted that the “safety and wellbeing of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority”.

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