New warehouse space in UK grows 60%

About 3.4 million square meters of warehouse space in the United Kingdom is slated for construction this year. That’s an increase of more than 60 percent compared to the situation one year before.

Warehouses seem to be the latest boom in the UK real estate sector, which a record-breaking area being up for construction this year. All these millions of square meters of floorspace will, of course, be built to support the rapidly increasing growth of ecommerce in the United Kingdom.

3.4 million m2 of new warehouse space in UK

The Guardian cites research by Knight Frank which shows that this year 3.4 million square meters of warehouse space will be built, up from 2.14 million square meters last year and 1.95 million in 2019. Investment in UK warehouses totaled a record 7 billion euros in the first six months of this year, which is more than double the 3.2 billion euros recorded in the same period last year, and 54 percent more than the previous record of 2018.

Overseas investors from the rest of Europe, the US, Korea, and China account for over half of all investments in UK warehouses.

Ecommerce accounts for 32% of all retail spending.

With ecommerce now making up 32 percent of all retail spending in the UK during the first five months of this year (compared with 19 percent in 2019), it’s no surprise companies are now investing heavily in warehouses, logistics centers, distribution centers and fulfillment centers in Europe.

Amazon signed 18 renting deals in 2021

One of the big players in the warehouse space area is, unsurprisingly, Amazon. Data from Savills shows that the ecommerce giant had signed 18 letting deals since the start of the year, which is only one deal less than it had signed during the whole of 2020.

If ecommerce keeps on growing so does the need for warehouse space. Knight Frank estimates that for every billion (pounds) of online sales requires about 130,000 square meters of warehouse space.