Industrial real-estate agents Savills have said that new warehouse space demand has spiked with 5 million square feet of new space required by NHS, retail and pharmaceutical companies owing to the pandemic.

According to Kevin Mofid, head of logistics and industrial research at Savills, the company alone recorded more than three million sq ft of new warehouse requirements since 16 March: “While precise details remain confidential, they originate from the major supermarkets, online retailers and specialist pharmaceutical 3PLs.”

Other industrial real estate agents are seeing similar spikes in demand. Richard Evans, head of national logistics and industrial at Cushman & Wakefield said: “Almost all of the supermarkets are searching for short term warehouse space to cope with online demand and we expect short term demand to grow over the coming weeks and months.”

Space is being let already added Rob Hall, international partner at Cushman & Wakefield: “Several of the REITs are managing their voids [on logistics developments and buildings nationwide] and accommodating these requirements.”