Two things matter more here than the rent. B8 storage and distribution sits outside Class E, so the change-of-use flexibility a light industrial unit enjoys does not apply to a warehouse. And London’s industrial land is protected by policy that is being rewritten right now — the draft London Plan consultation closes on 15 October 2026.
Storage and distribution carries none of Class E’s flexibility. You cannot switch a warehouse to offices, retail or a gym without permission, and the permitted development route to residential is unavailable. We confirm which consent you are actually taking.
Strategic Industrial Location and Locally Significant Industrial Site designations protect the use. That is bad news if you were counting on alternative use value and good news if you are an occupier, because it protects supply.
A 16.5-metre articulated vehicle needs roughly 35 metres to turn. Clear height under the haunch is not the number in the particulars. And the incoming supply was specified for somebody else.
Our fee is paid by the landlord or the vendor. No fee to you and no acquisition retainer.
Vehicle type and frequency, yard turning, power draw, eaves requirement, racking, hours and whether you need sprinklers for your goods. These rule units out far faster than a budget does.
Use class and designation, EPC and floor area, incoming supply, yard depth, eaves and clear height, door type, floor loading, service charge and lease structure — before you view.
Heads of terms, a schedule of condition photographed and appended, and a clear view of what dilapidations will look like in five or ten years.
Light industrial — the old B1(c) — moved into Class E in September 2020 and carries the whole of that class’s flexibility. B8 storage and distribution and B2 general industrial did not move. They sit outside Class E entirely.
In practice that means a warehouse cannot become offices, retail, a café or a gym without planning permission, and Class MA, the permitted development route to residential, is unavailable because it requires two years of Class E use. A warehouse’s alternative use value is therefore a planning question rather than an automatic right — and in London it is a planning question with a policy answer that is usually no.
Strategic Industrial Locations and Locally Significant Industrial Sites protect land for traditional industrial, logistics and sui generis uses. If a site carries one of those designations, redevelopment to anything else is very difficult, which suppresses alternative use value and supports rents and supply for occupiers.
The draft London Plan went to consultation on 16 July 2026 and closes on 15 October 2026. It keeps SIL and LSIS, adds seventeen Strategic Economic Clusters under a new Policy PV4, and identifies three wider corridors — the UK Innovation Corridor, the West Tech Corridor and the Thames Estuary Production Corridor.
Since April 2023 a commercial property cannot be let below EPC E without a registered exemption. The proposed EPC C milestone for 2027 was dropped in June 2026. The confirmed target is EPC B by 2031, for buildings over 1,000 square metres, with smaller buildings remaining at E.
A small workshop usually falls below that threshold. A warehouse very often does not, so this is the category where the 2031 target actually lands. Older sheds are the hardest cases — uninsulated envelope, high-bay lighting, gas radiant heating. The route to B is normally roof insulation, LED lighting and rooftop PV, and PV in turn depends on roof loading capacity and landlord consent, neither of which can be assumed. The change is not yet in force and requires secondary legislation, but on a ten-year lease it is inside the term.
Industrial is let on full repairing and insuring terms as a matter of course, and dilapidations is where the cost arrives at the end of the term. Agree a schedule of condition at heads of terms, photographed and appended to the lease. It is the cheapest insurance in commercial property.
Then the service charge scope and any cap, and whether you have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 or the lease is contracted out. Railway arches are their own market within this one: frequently contracted out, with unusual repairing obligations, water ingress that is nobody’s clear responsibility until it is yours, and a planning history that sometimes does not exist. They can be excellent value, but read the lease harder than you would on an estate unit.
Generally no. B8 storage and distribution and B2 general industrial sit outside Class E, so none of that class’s automatic flexibility applies, and Class MA’s route to residential is unavailable because it requires two years of Class E use. Any change is a planning application — and on designated industrial land in London, one that is likely to be refused.
It depends which side of the table you are on. As an occupier it is good news: the designation protects industrial supply in a market where supply is what drives rent. As an investor counting on alternative use value, it is the opposite — redevelopment to residential or offices on designated land is very hard, and you should price the asset on its industrial income rather than on a hope value that policy does not support.
Only if it is over 1,000 square metres. The confirmed target is EPC B by 2031 above that threshold; below it the minimum stays at EPC E, and the previously proposed EPC C by 2027 milestone was dropped in June 2026. Many warehouses are over the threshold, so on a ten-year lease it is worth establishing now who carries the cost of getting there under the repairing and alterations provisions.
For a 16.5-metre articulated vehicle, roughly 35 metres of clear depth to turn. Less than that and your drivers are manoeuvring on the shared estate road, which will generate complaints from neighbours and eventually from the landlord. If you are running rigids or vans it is far less critical. Tell us your vehicles and we will filter on it rather than showing you units that look right on paper.
Materially, yes. Arches are frequently let contracted out of the 1954 Act, so there is no automatic right to renew. The repairing obligations are unusual, water ingress is a recurring issue and responsibility for it is not always where you would assume, and the planning history can be thin or absent. They can be very good value for the right operation, but the lease deserves closer reading than an estate unit would.
