Value, labour supply and location continue to drive demand for Yorkshire’s industrial and logistics offering in 2025.
According to property consultancy Knight Frank’s latest Logic Report, take up by distribution firms in Yorkshire has increased this year.
Take up in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire by distribution firms has surged threefold annually, cementing their position as the dominant driver of demand and representing 51 per cent of activity in the four quarters to Q3.
Whilst in West Yorkshire and the Humber region, demand has also been led by distribution firms, accounting for 61 per cent of take up in the past four quarters. This represents a sharp rise from 27 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
In South Yorkshire, manufacturers also expanded their presence, with their share climbing to 37% from 16% in the same period last year. Retailers similarly contributed to the year-on-year uplift, highlighting a broad-based strengthening of occupier demand across key sectors in the market.
Take up at the end of Q3 for South Yorkshire stood at 2.6 million sq ft for the year, a substantial improvement on the sub-1 million sq ft achieved in all of 2024, with the final quarter to go.
In West Yorkshire, take up currently stands at 1.9 million sq ft with around 375,000 sq ft of space under offer at the end of Q3, providing a strong indication of the underlying strength of demand. Consequently, it suggests that last year’s total – and the pre-pandemic annual average – of 2 million sq ft per annum is likely to be exceeded.
Supply in West Yorkshire jumped up during Q3, reflecting an increased vacancy rate of 7.5% due to several second-hand units returning to the market, including Birstall 140 in Batley; Goole 232 (232,000 sq ft facility in Goole), and Howden 37, Ebuyer’s former 278,000 sq ft distribution centre in East Riding.
Commenting on South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire, Rebecca Schofield, partner and Sheffield office head at Knight Frank, said: “The South Yorkshire region continues to see a diverse mix of occupiers taking space. We see continued demand from both B8 and B2 occupiers, with 37 per cent of take up over the last 12 months being from manufacturing occupiers.
“The region has a healthy supply of units and presents choice for occupiers seeking space in a region with excellent access to the road network and available labour pool. Favourable incentives are also being offered to occupiers.
“Whilst there is increased supply in South Yorkshire, it is more limited in certain size bands, such as the 100,000–150,000 sq ft bracket.”
Significant transactions in Yorkshire include:
- Mileway’s 60,791 sq ft refurbished Unit 7 at Parkway One Business Park in Sheffield, let to Yorkshire-based third-party logistics provider 4S Distribution for five years at a headline rent of £7.75 psf.
- Home energy solutions provider Boxt agreeing to lease the newly developed 50,225 sq ft Unit 2 Gateway 36 in Barnsley for 10 years at £8.25 psf.
- NG Bailey have taken Shawcross 115, a 115,000 sq ft fully refurbished warehouse located off Junction 40 of the M1 from Crossbay on a new 10 year lease at £7.75 psf headline rent.
In addition we saw a number of occupiers start on site with self builds which include TJ Morris’ 800,000 sq ft facility at Unity Connect, Doncaster; a 320,000 sq ft facility at Weeden Street in Sheffield, by Sheffield Forgemasters International; Newcold’s 41m high extension in Wakefield and PCL Logistics’ facility at Premier Park, Doncaster.
Commenting on West Yorkshire, Iain McPhail, partner in Knight Frank’s Yorkshire Industrial & Logistics team, said: “Demand so far this year has been focused on units within the 50,000–100,000 sq ft bracket, comprising half of all this year’s take-up, while transactions at the larger end are taking longer to complete”.
“Significantly, only a small handful of grade A units remain available, including Baytree Developments’ best-in-class two-unit speculative scheme in Stourton Leeds consisting of 76,000 sq ft and 145,000 sq ft respectively, the last remaining unit (60,000 sq ft) at Leeds Valley Park, and Leftfield Park Wakefield (57,000 sq ft). Worryingly, there are no new schemes under construction (over 50,000 sq ft), nor is there any pipeline planned in the short-term, which will impact supply for the foreseeable future.”
