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New research from Iceni finds that sustainability and staff wellbeing are critical to the future of logistics

26 May 21

What does the future hold for the logistics industry? Iceni Projects interviewed 15 senior executives in the industrial sector as well as polling our readership to find out. Read our report below to learn more.

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As part of Iceni Project’s Future Work Series, our Economics team publishes their findings on the future of the logistics sector.

The report provides a bitesize assessment of the logistics sector and forms part of a wider series of research that looks at the future of our property sectors.

Read the full report here.

We interviewed 15 senior executives in the industrial sector to specifically examine the future sector trends. We also challenged our readership in early May 2021 – over 27,000 of our weekly email readers – to take our questionnaire on what these changes could mean for planning.

Our findings revealed that:

  • Sustainability is coming, fast.
  • Power is king.
  • Jobs are changing and consolidating.
  • Staff wellbeing is essential.
  • The planning system is an unwanted handbrake.

The logistics industry has had an extraordinary 12 months. It has seen an explosion in demand fuelled by online retailing and has managed to respond well to lock-downs and restrictions on movement. It should be celebrated that the UK logistics sector has been so very robust that it has proved to be resilient and quick to pivot. However, the pace of change shows no sign of slowing as we exit the pandemic, with current retail patterns reflecting a fast forward of trends rather than a paradigm shift.

The need to be more sustainable is gathering tremendous momentum and is being driven both by institutional investors and the consumer. Encouragingly, the push towards enhanced sustainability is beginning to translate into values.

COVID-19 has also shone a light on society’s wellbeing, and the importance of our workspaces in keeping us healthy. Working conditions have historically made headline news – for all the wrong reasons. The logistics sector is rapidly evolving to provide better amenities for workers, including more highly skilled jobs, and logistics parks are consolidating to incorporate the wider needs of a business. Working environments are also being enhanced by the use of AI, robots and smart buildings.

Iceni Projects is at the forefront of analysing the changes within key industries and technologies that will shape our futures, understanding how these changes will impact the communities and businesses of the future.

Iceni is fortunate to be working with some of the leading industrial and logistics companies to deliver new projects in England, Scotland and Wales.

Get in touch with us if you have any questions about the report and keep an eye out for the next in our Future Work Series.

Watch our for our Vlog this week where Tritax Symmetry will be joining us to discuss the report findings.

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Matt Kinghan Director,Economics

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