British Land to build Southwark last mile logistics hub

British Land has gained planning for a multi-storey last mile logistics hub in south London boosting its development pipeline in the capital to 2.9m sq ft.

The hub forms part of British Land’s pipeline of urban logistics projects in Greater London with a development value of £1.3bn.

The 140,000 sq ft multi-level logistics scheme will be built at Mandela Way, in Southwark, which sits close to the junction of New Kent Road, Old Kent Road and Tower Bridge Road and will deliver a last mile logistics hub for Southwark and central London.

The former Southwark Council car pound will be redeveloped to feature four floors of flexible, high-quality, sustainable logistics space with the ground floor logistics space providing access for a variety of distribution vehicles from HGVs to cargo bikes.

The lastest project is part of British Land ‘s policy of targeting development-led opportunities within the M25 and Zone 1 of London “where there is an extreme shortage of urban logistics space”. And according to recent British Land funded research, last mile logistics solutions that enable the use of e-bikes and electric vehicles for delivery to the end customer have up to 90% lower carbon emissions and are 1.6 times faster than vans in traffic.

In line with British Land’s “Greener Spaces” pillar of its 2030 sustainability strategy, the Southwark building will target a BREEAM Excellent rating and implement low-carbon materials, and a circular economy strategy to lower embodied and operational carbon emissions.

British Land’s pipeline of urban logistics projects in Greater London includes, alongside Mandela Way, an additional project adjacent to the Old Kent Road on Verney Road, the Finsbury Square Car Park and The Box at Paddington Central, which received planning consent earlier this year. Additionally, British Land received approval in July to deliver 455,000 sq ft of multi-level logistics space at Heritage House, Enfield, located near Junction 25 of the M25.

Mike Best, Head of Logistics at British Land, said, “Mandela Way is the latest scheme in our London urban logistics pipeline to receive planning consent following approvals at both Paddington Central and Enfield earlier this year, enabling us to bring forward another high quality logistics project and continue to address the acute undersupply of sustainable, modern warehousing in Greater London.

“We continue to explore new opportunities to leverage our longstanding investment and development expertise to source and execute acquisitions which unlock opportunities to densify London’s logistics supply.”