The COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the demise of the high street, however, equally, it has shifted the demand for warehouse space.
Property companies such as British Land are thinking outside the box to create storage space where none exist to serve the demand of consumers for short delivery times requiring new “last mile” depots.
Ideas such as converting underground car parks into warehouses can find investors making millions.
If online sales continue to boom over the next five years, retailers could need an extra 12m sq ft (1.1m sq metres) of additional space for last-mile deliveries by 2025, when e-commerce could account for 30% of all retail sales, according to research by the estate agent Knight Frank
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/17/british-land-to-turn-car-parks-into-hubs-for-same-day-delivery-firms
