To drive the success of growth sectors, we need to deliver high quality industrial and logistics spaces

Justin Sheldon

National Director of Development – I&L Lead

In June, the government published its Industrial Strategy which set out its plan to drive investment into and accelerate the growth of eight priority sectors – advanced manufacturing; creative industries; clean energy; digital technologies; professional and business services; life sciences; financial services; and defence.

This is a renewed commitment from government to place-based growth, as it seeks to harness the potential of regions and create sector-based clusters in strategic locations across the UK. Harworth recognises the benefits of clusters and we have created one of the most successful examples of this at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in South Yorkshire. The park is home to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and local, national and global occupiers – from the UK Atomic Energy Authority to Rolls Royce – have invested in the location as their base.

We have provided long-term investment in the site – in excess of £200m – and worked with partners across the public and private sector over the last decade to develop the park. To support the growth sectors, the country needs to create more places like the AMP. The development industry is critical to this, building the physical spaces for occupiers to invest in – and ultimately shaping the places where innovation can happen and industry can flourish. That is no small
responsibility.

So, what can and should the industry be doing now? And what do we need from government?

Accelerating the delivery of I&L spaces

In tandem with the Industrial Strategy, mayoral combined authorities have been tasked with developing local growth plans to set out their approach for driving growth in key sectors across their regions.

There are several regions which would see the sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy as theirs to own and of course certain regions will naturally attract certain sectors – based on characteristics including existing industry presence, academic and research and development expertise, local skills and geographies.

But the reality is there are opportunities for growth in the identified sectors across multiple regions, and it’s not a case of – say – South Yorkshire being the sole home of advanced manufacturing and the North East being the only home for clean energy.

In my opinion we therefore shouldn’t get too fixated on location at this stage. What is important now is that there are spaces and places across the board for occupiers to invest in. Put simply, we need to be delivering high quality industrial and logistics development at pace and scale.

Most, if not all, of the sectors identified in the strategy are reliant on manufacturing in some way – whether that is the creation of lab technology, tools for the pharmaceutical industry or the development of blades for wind turbines, and we need to create the spaces to support this activity. But we will also need spaces for the supply chain, including further establishing critical national infrastructure in logistics and supporting the essential foundational economies that positively contribute to economic growth.

In the context of geopolitical shifts, the UK needs to have a resilient supply chain and provision of materials – such as steel for the defence sector – and we need the spaces to support this.

Shaping spaces with occupiers

At Harworth, we understand the requirements of occupiers across the identified growth industries and can shape the spaces we create to align with their needs. However, there are commonalities between industries – with the main requirement being high quality industrial space and supporting amenities.

In the first instance, and as alignment between regions and industries is established, the main priority is therefore to deliver these flexible spaces – and later in the development cycle, to work with the occupier to shape the spaces for them.

Bringing forward developments like the AMP shows the impact this can have when you get it right. The industrial spaces there are now home to a range of occupiers, all with varying needs and requirements from life sciences to aerospace. The AMP has rightly been recognised as nationally significant – an example of successful collaboration between education and industry and a place of innovation.

Developed on the site of the former Orgreave Colliery and Coking Works, where one industry once existed, another has been created for today and tomorrow. Employment opportunities have been created for local people, and the AMP has contributed to the region’s economic growth. It is directly raising the levels in local skills and education, even influencing college courses and apprenticeship opportunities to be designed in line with the work underway there.

Elsewhere in the UK, we are driving growth like this through our logistics developments at Bardon Hill in Coalville and Logistics North in Bolton.

At the heart of our approach is creating Grade A sustainable developments in strategic, well-connected locations and working with occupiers to deliver tailored solutions within our sustainable building codes. Our plan is to continue doing so over the coming years, with the growth industries identified in the government’s strategy in mind.

The ingredients for success

Delivering these spaces is dependent on a number of factors and there are certain things the development industry needs in order to invest in sites.

Last year, ahead of the general election, Harworth published its Blueprint for Growth which set out key asks for the new government. Much of this focused on unlocking barriers to development, including reforming the planning system and ensuring long-term infrastructure funding. There has, of course, been a lot of policy change over the last year to move things in the right direction – but there is more to do.

As a developer we need certainty that new development will be supported by accompanying infrastructure. We cannot speculatively develop I&L spaces without knowing that the other building blocks will be there, and we need to be sure on funding and commitment from government and infrastructure bodies to deliver infrastructure such as improved roads and grid connections.

I won’t touch too much on planning here as we all know the challenges and how important reform of the system is for unlocking development, but this still remains a priority.

The Strategic Sites Accelerator set out in the Industrial Strategy has the potential to unlock development-ready land through remediation, infrastructure investment and accelerated planning and I’m keen to understand how these sites will be selected. It is also good to see the inclusion of the Connections Accelerator Service which promises to reduce costs for occupiers and speed up grid connections.

I’m encouraged by the Industrial Strategy and think it is good that the government has taken steps to identify and prioritise these growth sectors. To make it a success we need to focus on accelerating delivery of high quality I&L development in strategic locations and to do this the development industry and government need to work hand-in-hand.