‘UK may run out of warehouse space within a year’

Britain may run out of warehouse space within a year, as supply chain disruption and a boom in online shopping propel demand to record levels, started reports on Monday (25) citing property agent Cushman & Wakefield. 

As per a report, available warehouse space in the UK has fallen below 50m square feet, the lowest level since Cushman started tracking the sector in 2009. 

That is roughly the same amount of space already taken up by businesses in the first nine months of this year, said Cushman, adding that demand for warehouses is being driven by ecommerce companies led by Amazon as well as manufacturing and logistics businesses, as they respond to trends unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. 

Expansion by Amazon and others is eating into the stock of available warehouse space. 

According to estate agent Savills, the UK has warehouses covering a total of 566m sq ft, but Cushman’s figures suggest the vast majority of this space is already occupied. 

“Even though developers have been fairly quick to respond to the shortage . . . when you look at how quickly development is being taken up, there’s probably not enough [warehouse space],” media reports cited Bruno Berretta, who leads logistics research at Cushman, who pointed out that there was a risk the UK could run out of available space within a year.

The rise in online shopping, after the shuttering of high streets during coronavirus lockdowns, is cited as one of the biggest factors increasing demand for warehouse space. Amazon has single-handedly taken millions of square feet, said Cushman, while the likes of Asos and The Hut Group have also expanded. 

Another factor behind the demand for storage space are companies whose supply chains have been hit by Brexit and Covid-19.