LOGISTICS & MANUFACTURING
Markets keen to invest but seek economic and political certainty
Both the logistics and manufacturing marketplaces will face challenges and opportunities through 2025.
In manufacturing, continued inflation in raw material costs is impacting the sector and clients are looking to drive as much efficiency into their operations while maximising utilisation of existing assets. Environmental and sustainability-driven investment is likely to continue due to the current tax incentives in place.
Large-scale investment plans are being delayed until there is more stability and are likely to be replaced with efficiency-driven investments rather than additional capacity. Where investment decisions have already been delayed for a period of time, we are seeing projects being brought forward again so that clients can remain ahead in their market.
In logistics, the start of the year has seen a good level in interest from occupiers for space in strategically important areas of the UK. Investment decisions are taking longer as there is a nervousness over the seemingly endless flux in what governments both locally and globally are likely to do that could impact on the future of their business models.
Both areas of the sector are not immune from ongoing micro and macroeconomic impacts. The increasing threat of global trade tariffs, local economic factors such as stubborn inflation, and interest rates remaining high continue to create drag in markets that are keen to invest where they can have certainty over the longer-term horizon.
We expect to see construction levels remain closely aligned to those we saw through 2024 until there is more stability in the wider economy.
DONCASTER, UK
iPort
iPort is the UK’s most advanced intermodal logistics hub, providing sustainable transport solutions with connections to regional, national and international supply chains via bespoke, state-of-the-art infrastructure including its own rail freight facility. RLB has been pivotal to the successful delivery of this project, one of the largest logistics park developments in the UK.
