Industrial

"The defence landscape across the UK and Europe is being reshaped, particularly by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine – which has seen intensive consumption of munitions, the innovative use of uncrewed platforms and other software-enabled capabilities – and the prospect of further geopolitical volatility in Europe and further afield. In this section, PA examines the policy background"

"Defence supply chains across the UK and Europe are complex, spanning major contractors, specialist component suppliers, and emerging tech firms. In this section, PA explores the complexity of the scaling and productivity challenges that such supply chains face"

"Real estate can play a crucial role in addressing defence supply chain scaling challenges. In this section, PA discusses the necessary infrastructure to support increases in production capacity alongside investment in critical functions such as research and development"

"The MOD spent £52.8 billion and £54.2 billion on defence in 2022/23 and 2023/24, respectively. Of that, close to £30 billion was on the procurement of equipment and services"

"Looking ahead, if we assume that employment keeps pace with the increase in expenditure, we can calculate estimated employment growth based on the increase in defence spending as a percentage of GDP"

"Employment growth is set to drive significant expansions in industrial and logistics demand"

"Given the potential flow of demand over the next decade, which regions can expect to see a rise in take-up? Like many manufacturing industries, the defence sector benefits from significant agglomeration economies. To examine this, we can look at breakdowns of employment by region"

"Already employing close to one million people across the continent, Europe’s rearmament could stimulate significant demand for industrial and logistics space"

"The scale and ambition of the SDR should not be called into question; like much of the Western world, the UK has reacted to an increasingly conflict-prone international order. As experts in logistics real estate, we would note several key policy implications that the government will need to address as part of the SDR’s implementation"