By 2025, an additional 63.9m sq ft of warehouse space is going to be required across the UK to meet the demands of the online retail sector alone, according to Savills. As well as the changes to customer behaviour prompted by the pandemic, warehouse occupiers in this industry are also expected to store more inventory as a way of building supply chain resilience. Rising rents, environmental issues and planning policies aside, it’s the lack of supply of new buildings that is by far the most significant challenge facing the sector. One solution could be temporary buildings.
This article was first published in the March 1st 2022 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.
Instant buildings are a real alternative to traditional bricks and mortar units. The team at Smart-Space has noticed that the requests for buildings are becoming more varied and with increasingly different uses. Smart-Space introduced a new style of building a couple of years ago – the Maxi-Space – which provides an expansive area with up to 60m of uninterrupted space; no uprights or supports which leaves a vast area available for flexible use.
Commodore, experts in creating, manufacturing and installing bespoke kitchen and bedroom designs, bought an additional CopriSystems canopy, second hand from a neighbouring competitor who had gone into administration. Later, a fire caused only minimal damage to the cover thanks to the flammability rating of PVC and the steel framework was completely unharmed. CopriSystems then replaced the cover, gable wall and side curtain doors with a few alterations.
Rubb Buildings Ltd’s parent company Zurhaar & Rubb AS has acquired O.B.Wiik AS. Present in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, O.B.Wiik is the Nordic region’s leading supplier of fabric buildings, work/construction shelters, and tarpaulins. O.B.Wiik is also a preferred supplier of emergency relief shelters with warehouses strategically placed in eight countries to deliver buildings and shelters during major international humanitarian crises.
Aganto has won the accolade of UK Ports Temporary Building Specialist of the Year 2021. Port managers have had to find a flexible storage solution for the fluctuating cargo volumes. The benefits of using temporary buildings at UK ports is found in the durability of the materials used in construction. By combining the benefits of a temporary building with a product that will withstand hard-wearing weather conditions, port operators can expand and reduce their storage requirements, in line with the volume of shipments.
As e-commerce continues to boom, more warehouse space will be needed, which is great news for providers of buildings and facilities
George Simpson
Features Editor
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