Commercial warehousing crisis threatens West Midlands economic prosperity
THE West Midlands faces losing out on much-needed investment if it cannot meet industry’s need for quality commercial space, business leaders in Birmingham have been told.
The situation is so dire that the area only has around a year’s supply of suitable commercial development available for current needs.
The dire warning came from Ian Cornock, Lead Director – Midlands Region, JLL, who was speaking at the DLA Piper Spring Breakfast Club Meeting.
“Take up in the industrial sector is very strong at the moment,” he said. “Within the manufacturing sector there is high demand, as well as from online distribution retailers.
“We have around one year’s supply of industrial warehousing capacity so we have to prioritise sites and develop the infrastructure we need to support them.”
He said the Advanced Manufacturing Hub at Aston was a good example of what was needed but this was only one site – a great many more are needed if the region is to sustain growth, especially that in the manufacturing sector.
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Bob Tattrie, Managing Partner, Trebor Developments, told the event that from a developer’s perspective there was also a big problem with supply.
He said the situation was a legacy of recession due to the lack of speculative commercial warehouse development built across the region during the depth of the decline.
Without suitable facilities, he said potential businesses which might have looked to the West Midlands to set up a base may look elsewhere – even abroad, thereby starving the region of vital inward investment.
“People now have a very limited choice. Developing suitable land and infrastructure takes a long time to get through the system,” he said.
“The Advanced Manufacturing Hub has taken two years so far, while Redhill in Staffordshire has taken five; there simply isn’t enough commercial space available.
“It’s bad news for inward investment and it’s bad for the West Midlands as a whole.”
Mark Rogers, Chief Executive and Director of Economy, Birmingham City Council, was another speaker at the event.
He said the city council was looking to utilise commercial opportunities from within the city centre Enterprise Zone to bring forward new development opportunities.
The DLA Piper Breakfast Club events, which are each supported by a panel of experts, focus on important issues within the regional investment agenda.
They are designed to be highly informative, offer good quality networking and knowledge sharing opportunities.
The latest event was an interactive forum for those involved in the fields of construction, engineering, planning, finance and property in and around the Midlands.
The session started with facts and figures relating to the Midlands economy, presented by Paul Forrest, Director, West Midlands Economic Forum.
Host for the event was DLA Piper partner, Fiona Thomson.
