[markbarbera]

Canada Post consolidating on east Mountain
By Gord Bowes, News staff
October 7, 2011

Canada Post is building a 19,000 sq. ft. distribution centre on the east Mountain as part of its national move to modernize the way it operates.

The building, situated on 2.9 acres of land on Pritchard Road at Highland, is expected to be completed in January and open for operation in April.

The national postal service’s carrier depots on Upper Gage and Upper James will be closed as those workers, plus a handful from the Stoney Creek, processing plant, move into the new facility.

Wayne Beckles, general manager of delivery operations for the region, said Canada Post has committed $2.1 billion to modernize its operations.

“We’re doing this to make us more competitive by reducing costs, increasing productivity and to build a foundation for new and improved services so that we can protect and grow our businesses,” he said.

The new plant coincides with a shift in how carriers will perform their jobs, said Canada Post spokesman Tom Creech.

Under the new model traditional carriers will be equipped with Ford vans and begin delivering larger packages as well as picking up mail from street boxes and outlets. The work combines what were two separate jobs, but there will be no layoffs, he said.

The new plant is another in a long line of businesses moving into the east Mountain near the Lincoln Alexander and Red Hill Valley parkways, said Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson.

“The Red Hill Business Park is growing in leaps and bounds,” he said, noting the new Fortinos headquarters and Canada Bread plant among other recent additions in the past year.

Next door to the Canada Post site, in a building that has been vacant for most of the past decade along Stone Church Road, Bell Canada has moved in.

http://www.hamiltonnews.com/news/can...east-mountain/

So, new tenants in Red Hill Business Park now include

• Canada Bread
• Maple Leaf Foods
• Bell Canada
• Canada Post
• Fortinos HQ