With a bank of well-located assets in Britain’s capital city, Prologis UK is already heavily invested and committed to supporting London’s continuing evolution; helping to build on its world-class status. 

The future for London is exceptionally exciting at the moment. The world’s eyes are on the capital and its leaders as we look forward to both a mayoral and general elections, which bring fresh opportunities to shape the city’s future for the benefit of businesses and communities. In that sense, the NLA’s New London Agenda, and its six strategic pillars, are being launched at precisely the right time and will add to the momentum for positive, sustainable change. 

Leverage Innovation

In placemaking terms for global cities, Prologis is a world leader. Our activities span three continents; investing in assets that are both innovative and integral to the way many cities function. Finding ways to incorporate industrial space into densely-populated urban environments is challenging, so a focus on innovation and strategic partnerships is key.

In Tokyo, we have developed more than 75 multi-storey logistics buildings in the past 20 years; creating much-needed floor space for last-mile delivery companies and other industrial users close to urban communities and businesses. In America, the San Francisco Gateway development is currently under construction, replacing four 1940’s era warehouses with 2.16m sq ft of space across three floors, including retail and maker space alongside logistics operations. The flexible and innovative design will ensure the building can meet current and future demand, serving existing operations and attracting new and evolving businesses.

Working in Partnership

Prologis is an effective and enthusiastic partner of choice for stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Our work with several London boroughs is helping to unlock opportunities to place critical infrastructure in the form of logistics, where they need to be; within the most densely populated areas, necessary to support the target to make London net zero by 2030. 

We own some valuable, strategic assets inside the M25, including prime logistics buildings at Erith, Dagenham, West Drayton and Croydon, and are investment-ready to extend our presence. Prologis Park Royal in West London is a much-sought-after Strategic Industrial Area location for last-mile logistics companies servicing households and businesses across most central districts. These assets are more than just buildings, they are exciting growth opportunities for jobs, transport and industry; supporting sustainable communities.

Think Beyond Boundaries

Being invested as we are in London’s future, means we take a long-term view and aim to ensure that everything we do has a positive impact on society, businesses and the environment. We want the people who use or live near our buildings to thrive, which means we look for ways to bring communities in so they can share in the amenities we create. 

Indeed, this is the very ethos of our PARKlife initiative – to create the spaces and places where our customers’ business can thrive, where employees enjoy coming to work and where communities and nature can flourish.

Focus on Health 

People are at the heart of everything we do, over many years we have taken strides to improve working environments and standardise features that promote wellbeing. 

For example, we work with our design partners to optimise use of daylight and look for opportunities to provide break-out areas – indoors and outdoors – where workers can kick back and relax.  We collaborate with onsite partners to provide workers with green benefits such as access to car share programmes and nature pathways, so they can experience all that the environment has to offer. We also actively encourage communities to enter our parks to make use of our onsite amenities – they’re open to all.

The attention we give on placemaking in the global cities where we operate and the provision of EV-ready infrastructure, demonstrates that we understand the importance of supporting businesses in switching to decarbonised mobility solutions; bringing benefits in terms of air quality. 

Value Diversity

A key takeaway from our recent report “Critical Infrastructure : Driving Employment Growth Within  The UK’s Logistics Sector” was how diverse the Industrial & Logistics sector has become – providing accessibility and mobility to those with limited formal education, whilst accommodating individuals from diverse backgrounds. 

The sector’s flexibility, particularly in regard to working hours and conditions, is proving to be attractive to female employees, with our latest research data providing an early indication of greater gender diversity.

The Prologis Warehouse and Logistics Training Programme (PWLTP) is supporting the delivery of employment training for young people and disadvantaged groups – those who could most benefit from an opportunity to learn more about career pathways in the logistics sector. 

Plan for Future Generations

Innovating for a better built environment means addressing the urgent need to make cities more sustainable and healthier places to live. As a provider of critical infrastructure that has been calling for logistics property to be better considered within the London Plan, we aim to be sustainability leaders; delivering sustainable growth opportunities in partnership with like-minded organisations.

All our new buildings are all-electric and net-zero in construction, as certified by Planet Mark. Solar PV arrays and onsite energy storage systems, as well as LED lighting and EV-ready infrastructure are standard elements of our proposition. 

Our expertise in the area of renewable energy means our customers benefit from future-proof infrastructure that could potentially see them contributing energy back to the grid in years to come. This offers further opportunities to partner with like-minded organisations, enhance innovation and future proof the sustainable growth of London.

With the backing of the NLA and everything it stands for, London has an opportunity to build on its world-class status and lead the way to the city of the future. Working together and staying focused on doing the right thing will ensure that when we get there, it will be a better place for everyone.