The long-term growth in ecommerce is just one of several transformative trends fuelling demand for logistics space — particularly in the last-mile segment. Consumers’ appetite for convenience, coupled with the simplicity of doorstep delivery, means that next-day or even same-day delivery have become engrained in people’s shopping habits.

According to courier firm Shiply, 1.7 billion parcels were delivered to UK consumers in 2013. By 2023, this had risen to 5 billion — an increase of almost 300 percent.

All this has meant greater demand for last-mile logistics space. However, this comes after decades of industrial land loss as key sites in urban areas have been repurposed for higher- value alternative uses and infrastructure projects. Today, many of the United Kingdom’s cities and largest towns face a chronic undersupply of high-quality urban logistics space, even while demand remains robust.

This makes urban logistics — particularly in the United Kin