I am not talking about archetypal garden shed, but instead very large warehousing and factory sites over 100,000 sq ft.
There is a trend moving towards these very large factory spaces loosely dubbed “big sheds”. In the past, big sheds were mainly used as part of assembly lines or a prelude to modern factories, but now big sheds are moving away from these traditional uses to more of storage, distribution and assembly hubs. There is still a place for these large factories a good example is the i54 near Wolverhampton, when you see what JLR have created.
Taking the UK as a whole, finding locations for big sheds is not an easy task especially given the timeline required to not just find the right location but construct the big shed. Developers are taking the opportunity to build big sheds speculatively knowing that there is going to be purchasers who will either buy or take it on lease upon practical completion this is because land cannot easily be created to accommodate big sheds, which need to be supported by the UK road networks.
Will the trend of big sheds continue when inflation is estimated, by some commentators, to be 18% next year. Will the Bank of England will have to increase interest rates to stop importing inflation and so increase borrowing cost. This may dampen down demand weighed up against cost savings from economies of scale and efficiency savings that come with increased productivity in one hub. This does make sense in the backdrop of the supply chain crisis where stock allows suppliers to be more productive.
