Take up in the European manufacturing sector has grown significantly over recent years, rising from 2 million sq m in 2012 to 4 million sq m in 2019, according to the international real estate advisor. Even though take up is expected to be slightly lower in 2020, it is anticipated to surpass 4 million sq m in 2021 again and then continue to rise.

Over the past five years, the UK has attracted £148 billion of private manufacturing investment, creating demand for 2.4 million sq m of warehouse space. This indicates that for every £1 billion of private manufacturing investment, this creates new demand for 175,000 sq ft of warehouse space.

Marcus de Minckwitz, Director, Savills Regional Investment Advisory EMEA, says: “The European manufacturing sector accounts for the same proportion of logistics take up as in the UK at 14%. Although this varies by country, we have observed comparable or higher proportions of take up across Central and Eastern Europe with 35% in the Czech Republic and 14% in Poland, which would suggest that our forecasts appear conservative.”

Mike Barnes, European Research Associate at Savills, adds: “If, in the short term, companies adopt nearshoring policies to insulate themselves from future supply chain disruption, it is likely that European manufacturing will increase, which in turn will create a ripple effect for warehouse demand.

“If the forecasts from Capital Economics are just 20% higher then an additional 13.9 million sq m of traditional warehouse space will be required across Europe by 2022.”