Coronavirus And The Drive For Warehouse Space

The popularity of online retail has been driving an increase in the need for extra warehouse storage space for years but recently the drive for space has been supercharged by the Coronavirus pandemic.  Even before Covid hit, Brexit stockpiling in the UK had made the need for extra space important across many industries.  Online retail is expected to experience double digit growth for the next 5 years especially in the fast moving consumer goods space.  Warehouse and storage mezzanines can allow companies to maximise their existing footprint without having to source expensive additional units.  Since the start of 2020 online sales have increased by over 20% accelerating the shift away from traditional high street retail.  Logistics real estate was reportedly up 111% in 2020 compared to 2019.  Amazon and other large companies have been responsible for a large proportion of this growth but smaller companies are also starting to increase their footprint.  Here at Doity we are happy to give free consultations on how you can maximise the use of any space with our years of experience with mezzanine floors and warehouse platforms.  Knight Frank analysed the market and estimate that online retail could drive a need for 92 million square feet of storage space in warehouses over the next 3 years.

Online retailing also has a greater amount of storage space required for its business model compared to traditional high street stores.  Stockholding is transferred from shops to warehouses and the need to deal with returns exacerbates the space required.  We can advise and guide you in the planning and technical requirements for warehouse mezzanine  floors.  A secondary benefit of using your own space is that the planning and implementation times are massively reduced.  Allowing companies to move fast and adapt to the changing market.

Other companies we have dealt with have found that their mezzanine floors also had other benefits when Covid struck.  With the extra space and clever use of partitions and extra walkways they have been able to increase the safety of workplaces for staff.  Additional showroom space can also be created if you have customers visiting your site.  Contact us now to see examples of our previous projects and how they could improve your footprint.  Whether it’s increased social distancing, segregating working areas from client areas and reducing noise from machinery we can design a solution.

Changes we believe we will see in the industry due to covid

• Social distancing will continue and be seen as key for staff
• Automation in warehousing will grow further
• Stockholding will increase with high street retail space reducing
• Manufacturing re-shoring to deal with supply chain and logistics problems

Of course there is still a degree of uncertainty around the pandemic but increased warehouse space and general increases in space for workers is here to stay.  With our 65 years of the industry we believe we can offer an unrivalled level of service, expertise and guidance.  From offices to warehouses and storage or even retail mezzanines we can show our previous case studies and quality of workmanship.  We service the whole of the UK snd manufacture everything in our own factory so we control the quality of materials and build quality.  Call us today on 01706 646971 for a no commitment assessment of how you can use your space to take advantage of changes in the industry.