Light industrial sits in Class E(g)(iii), which makes it one of the most flexible use classes there is — and one of the most commonly misdescribed. A unit marketed as light manufacturing that is consented as B2 or B8 is a different asset with different rights. We verify which you are actually looking at, and we check the incoming power before you sign, because that is what stops most fit-outs.
Light industrial is E(g)(iii). General industrial is B2 and storage is B8, and neither sits in Class E. It decides what you can change to without an application, so we check the consent rather than the particulars.
The incoming supply is the constraint that most often stops a fit-out. An upgrade is a distribution network operator job with its own timetable, so we establish the capacity first, not after you have committed.
The EPC C by 2027 milestone was dropped in June 2026. EPC B by 2031 applies only above 1,000 square metres. Most units this size stay at E, and we will say so rather than let you be scared into a premium.
Our fee is paid by the landlord or the vendor. No fee to you, and no acquisition retainer.
Power draw, hours, vehicle movements, eaves height, floor loading and how much office you actually need. These rule units out faster than any budget figure.
Lawful use class, EPC and floor area, incoming supply, eaves and clear height, loading and yard, service charge and the lease structure — before you view.
Heads of terms, a schedule of condition agreed and photographed at the start, and a service charge you have actually seen the scope of.
Light industrial — the old B1(c) — moved into Class E(g)(iii) in September 2020: industrial processes that can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity. B2 general industrial and B8 storage and distribution sit outside Class E entirely and did not move.
That distinction is worth money. Within Class E you can change to offices, retail, a café, a gym, a clinic, a nursery or indoor sport with no planning application at all. None of that flexibility exists on a B2 or B8 consent. Class MA, the permitted development route to residential, also requires two years of Class E use — so it is available on E(g)(iii) and unavailable on B2 and B8.
Since April 2023 a commercial property cannot be let below EPC E without a registered exemption. The government had proposed an EPC C milestone for 2027, and a great deal of advice given over the last two years assumed it.
That milestone was dropped. The confirmed target is now EPC B by 2031, and only for buildings over 1,000 square metres. Buildings at or below that threshold remain at the EPC E minimum. The seven-year payback test and the existing exemptions survive, and the change requires secondary legislation, so it is not yet in force.
For most units of the size on this page, the practical effect is that they stay at E. If a landlord or an adviser is pricing an E-rated unit as though it becomes unlettable in 2027, that is no longer the position — and if you are buying, it may be a discount that is no longer justified.
On modern industrial occupation the incoming electrical supply, not the rent, is usually what decides whether a unit works. Machinery, extraction, refrigeration, compressed air and increasingly EV charging for a fleet all draw from a supply that was specified for a different occupier, often decades ago.
Upgrading it is a distribution network operator job with its own queue, its own quotation process and its own cost, and it is not fast. So establish the position before heads of terms: the incoming supply rating in kVA, where the intake is, whether there is spare capacity on the estate, and who pays for an upgrade under the lease. A unit that is perfect on every other measure and 60 kVA short is not a unit.
Industrial is let full repairing and insuring as a matter of course, and dilapidations is where the cost lands at the end of the term rather than the beginning. The single most valuable thing you can do at heads of terms is agree a schedule of condition, photographed and appended to the lease. It costs a few hundred pounds and routinely saves five figures.
Beyond that: what the estate service charge actually covers and whether it is capped; whether you have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 or the lease is contracted out; and, where the unit has a history of process use, what environmental liability you are taking on for contamination you did not cause.
It matters a great deal. Light industrial is Class E(g)(iii) and carries the whole of Class E’s flexibility — you can move to offices, retail, a gym or a clinic with no application. General industrial (B2) and storage (B8) sit outside Class E and carry none of it. Particulars often say ‘light manufacturing’ where the consent says B2, so we check the planning history rather than the brochure.
No. That milestone was dropped in the June 2026 announcement. The confirmed target is EPC B by 2031 and it applies only to buildings over 1,000 square metres; below that the minimum stays at EPC E. The changes still need secondary legislation. If you are being sold a story about a unit becoming unlettable in 2027, it is out of date.
Potentially, through Class MA, because E(g)(iii) is a Class E use and Class MA needs two years of continuous lawful Class E use. It is not available on B2 or B8, it is not available on listed buildings, and an Article 4 direction can remove it. On an industrial estate the practical obstacles are usually noise from neighbouring commercial uses and contamination, both of which prior approval specifically covers.
The incoming supply rating in kVA, where the intake sits, whether the estate has spare capacity, and who pays for an upgrade under the lease. Ask before heads of terms. A supply upgrade runs through the distribution network operator on their timetable, not yours, and it has stopped more fit-outs than rent ever has.
No. Our fee comes from the landlord or the vendor. What it buys you is someone reading the consent and checking the supply before you spend money on a lease that cannot accommodate your process.
