The British Property Federation has launched a board focusing on advocacy for the UK logistics sector, with SEGRO chief operating officer Andy Gulliford appointed as its chair.
Gulliford will be joined on the board by 11 other senior executives from owners and developers across the UK and Europe, as well as key decision-makers from retail and logistics companies.
The founding members of the board are:
- Andy Gulliford, chief operating officer, SEGRO (chair)
- David Sleath, chief executive, SEGRO
- Polly Troughton, managing director, St Modwen Logistics
- Michael Slattery, chief executive, Logicor
- Nick Cook, president, GLP Europe
- Paul Weston, senior vice-president, regional head, Prologis UK
- Melanie Leech, chief executive, British Property Federation
- Patrick Dunne, director of group property, FM & procurement (CPO), Sainsbury’s
- Kevin Mofid, head of logistic and industrial research, Savills
- Colin Godfrey, chief executive, Tritax Big Box
- Andrew Dickman, director, Tritax Symmetry
- Doug Thornton, property director, Wincaton
The board aims to bring together developers, owners and occupiers to lead engagement with national and regional government, highlighting the role of warehousing as essential infrastructure and a driver of economic growth.
The board will focus on harnessing more support for development to counteract the long-term shortage of warehousing space. It will review how the planning system can be adapted to address the issue, working in collaboration with the BPF’s executive team and existing industrial committee.
Gulliford said: “The Covid-19 pandemic showed the critical but often unseen role logistics plays in our everyday lives and its importance to the national economy. However, the allocation of industrial land for other uses, inflexible planning policy and misperceptions around the nature of logistics employment means we are facing an acute shortage of warehouse space in many parts of the UK.”
Gulliford also said there was a “tremendous opportunity to build wider understanding of the vast socio-economic benefits the logistics sector delivers, and the urgent need to plan for and develop the space it needs to reach its full potential”.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the BPF, said: “Warehousing is essential national infrastructure but our research shows that demand for space has been underestimated in planning policy for at least a decade.
“I look forward to working with Andy and his colleagues on the BPF warehousing board to continue to make the case to government that we must plan more effectively for the delivery of warehouse space and encourage more creative thinking around how to accommodate this vital use in areas of high population growth and limited land availability.
“It is not only essential to ensuring we can all access the goods we need; it sits right at the heart of government’s ambitions for growth across all areas of the country.”
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