A report published by Turley earlier this year suggests that so-called "beds and sheds", involving the co-location of residential and industrial uses in the same mixed-use development, is becoming a viable option for developers. Whilst the number of completed schemes still remains relatively small, there is a clear trend towards this approach, especially within London, with an increasing number of co-location schemes in the pipeline.
The report contains a number of interesting findings, including:
- Co-location schemes so far tend to be vertically stacked (81%) with residential above industrial spaces, however, the proportion of horizontally stacked developments (which are best suited for larger sites) is on the rise.
- More than two-thirds of co-location schemes deliver an increase in available industrial floor space by, on average, 40.5%.
- The number of new homes in the process of approval for co-location is increasing (currently 30,371 in London alone), helping to address perennial housing shortage issues within the capital.
Co-location clearly has the potential to unlock a greater amount of housing and industrial space, so long as issues relating to noise and pollution can be successfully addressed by developers as part of their schemes. It will be interesting to see whether the adoption of co-location accelerates further over the next few years, especially as logistics developers adopt more electric vehicles as part of their last mile delivery fleet and the supply of both industrial and residential space within London shrinks further.
"One year on from the publication of our last report – and despite the scepticism of many in the development industry – it is clear that Co-Location is here to stay, with new schemes continuing to come forward across the capital in spite of the more challenging economic climate."
https://static.turley.co.uk/media/pdf/2023-02/gds0832_-_co-location_report_2023_web.pdf
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