The sharp rise during H1 has seen the sector almost hit the peak seen during 2007, with East Midlands, West Midlands and North West accounting for 65% of all speculative development.

Despite the substantial increase in development, supply of new build industrial space remains tight. Currently, there is 12m sq ft of new space either built and available or underway, significantly down on 30m sq ft peak in H1 2008.

Steve Williams, national head of Industrial & Logistics at Lambert Smith Hampton said:

“With 55 separate schemes underway throughout the country, a significant rise on the 18 at the end of last year, we can truly say that the industrial market is responding to untapped demand from occupiers, but we still see room for more developments to start.

“Crucially, we have seen mid box [50k – 100k sq ft] arrive as a truly attractive asset class for investors and developers driven by the continued rise of omni-channel retailing, which was absent in the 2007 spec boom.

“While there is still relatively little action in some regional markets, we anticipate that these will soon follow suit to satisfy pent up market demand, which has remained robust through the first half of the year.”