Midlands remains beating heart of shifting UK logistics and industrial economy

From the Golden Triangle to the M6 corridor, demand for strategic logistics land has remained robust – but the nature of that demand and the challenges of meeting it are changing rapidly, writes Nick Jones, group director at Richborough Commercial.

Working across the UK to secure sites for new commercial and logistics developments, I get a unique insight into what is actually happening in the market. It’s a privileged position. In my view, it’s clear that the Midlands continues to be the beating heart of the UK’s industrial and logistics economy.

Richborough Commercial’s 2025 analysis of the East and West Midlands markets, undertaken with Savills, highlights a familiar but deepening issue: supply is lagging behind occupier need. With many prime sites now built out or committed, our role in securing opportunities that combine location, infrastructure access and planning deliverability for developers is increasingly complex and competition is intense.

The Midlands still offers some of the UK’s best logistics geography, but it’s no longer just about motorway junctions, it’s about readiness, power availability and local political support.

A shifting demand profile

The pandemic-era boom in online retail has continued with sales expected to account for over 30% in the next year. Coupled with the growth of onshoring, near and friend shoring, following the shifting geopolitics we’ve seen in recent years, the demand for dedicated I&L space continues unabated.

And it’s diversifying too. We’re now seeing occupier demand coming from firms looking for temperature-controlled logistics, UK-based manufacturers expanding or returning production domestically and fast-growing renewable energy and electrification sectors.

As before, these trends are particularly strong around the M1 and M6 corridors, but now new employment space is being designed to accommodate automation, decarbonisation and more complex supply chains. For our developer-clients, that’s creating new viability and design challenges.

Sites need flexibility to handle hybrid logistics and manufacturing uses, but we think this shift plays well to the Midlands’ skilled workforce and its established transport base.

Planning and policy

Much like the residential market, while policy rhetoric is strong on ‘growth and productivity’ and legislation has changed to encourage this – the delivery picture is less certain.

Planning process delays, inconsistent local plan coverage and infrastructure funding gaps are all slowing momentum. And again, much like the residential market, this is having a knock-on effect on delivery pipelines.

Many Midlands authorities are now reviewing their employment land allocations, but progress remains uneven.

The West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘deeper devolution deal’ offers a potential step change, with new funding and powers that could accelerate infrastructure delivery and support sites aligned with regional growth and net zero priorities.

However, clarity is still needed on how local plans will align with these broader industrial ambitions. The East Midlands devolution deal promises greater local autonomy over transport, skills, housing and regeneration, creating similar opportunities to coordinate land supply with long-term economic and infrastructure strategies.

Together, these devolved powers could mark a shift toward more regionally driven planning and investment across the Midlands if the policy frameworks and delivery mechanisms can keep pace.

We know that developers and promoters are ready to invest, but consistency and greater clarity on infrastructure funding, design standards and net zero requirements will help sites come forward faster.

The land challenge

One of the main challenges in bringing forward new development is identifying land that is genuinely suitable. Well-located plots are often affected by fragmented ownership, limited access, or environmental constraints.

Working with specialist technical and legal consultants, Richborough Commercial helps landowners navigate these issues so sites can be brought forward with greater clarity and value.

We currently have land under our control capable of delivering over 17,000,000 sq ft of logistics and manufacturing space. A recent example is Viking Park in Congleton, where we secured consent for 250,000 sq ft of commercial space, together with a retail component and land for housing.

The project is now being built out by Clowes Developments, with Bloor Homes delivering the residential element.

Emerging opportunities

Despite all this, we see several major opportunities for the Midlands and a positive outlook for the industrial and logistics market.

With a lot of the more straightforward sites already under development, we’re seeing a more strategic view of land – that is allowing for future evolution and diversification and our technical and planning teams are looking at how developers can embed utilities, drainage and transport so that the resulting scheme can respond to shifting occupier needs.

From our work with agents and developers we think the next five years are likely to see growth focused around:

• Power and energy-enabled sites, particularly near substations and grid reinforcements – data centres particularly are a massive growth market.
• Smaller, flexible units serving local manufacturing supply chains.
• Retrofit and intensification projects, where older industrial estates can be reconfigured for modern occupiers.
• Collaborative delivery models, with public and private sectors sharing infrastructure risk.

As the economy recalibrates, Midlands logistics is unlikely to return to the turbo-charged growth of 2021–22. But the long-term fundamentals remain sound: a central location, world-class connectivity, and a strong industrial base.

What’s needed now is a pipeline of well-prepared land not just allocated and politically supported, but infrastructure-ready, that is now crucial for the future of this sector.

The developers and promoters who can deliver that certainty, while responding to changing occupier priorities and sustainability targets, will be those who thrive through the next market cycle.

Nick Jones is Group Director for the commercial arm of Richborough, the strategic land promoter that operates UK wide, securing land and planning permission at our own risk and preparing sites for development in a way that is sustainable, deliverable and maximises value for landowners.