LOGISTICS IN THE EAST MIDLANDS


FOCUS FEATURE


Lorry driving and digital savviness are the biggest skills needs for the logistics industry, believes the head of a college that’s opening a dedicated new training and research centre. Marion Plant OBE FCGI, principal and chief executive at North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC), says softer skills are also desperately required as the sector faces having to plug huge gaps to meet rapid e-commerce growth. The college is working in collaboration with industry


Marion Plant OBE FCGI


and higher education partners to launch the new Centre for Logistics Education and Research (CLEAR) at Magna Park Lutterworth. “Digital skills are the biggest skills gaps at all levels,”


says Marion. “There’s a huge requirement for upskilling within the industry because so much of the processes will be automated. Unless employees are tuned into aspects such as cloud logistics, machine learning, big data, internet of things and web design, they won’t have jobs. “More immediately, there’s a huge shortage of HGV


drivers, particularly post-Brexit, with about 60,000 people needed.” ONS figures show 1.57 million people – 4.8% of the UK


workforce – are employed in “transport and storage”. In 2014, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills


forecast another 1.2 million people would need to be recruited in logistics by 2022 to meet growth projections, with the main skills gaps being technical, practical or job-specific – such as organisation, customer-handling, leadership, problem-solving, multi-tasking and communication. There’s clearly much work ahead as a 2019 report by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport found more than half (54%) of logistics firms anticipated skills shortages. “It’s a breadth of skills,” adds Marion. “As a result of


the pandemic and our dependence on deliveries for online shopping, logistics has become so much more visible and there’s a new sense of valuing the industry.


Tritax Symmetry planning director Jonathan Dawes (top) and development director Alex Reynolds


Magna Park Lutterworth, meanwhile, is one of the largest


distribution parks in Europe. Built on a former RAF airfield in 1987, it has expanded vastly since Asda made the site its main distribution hub at the outset. The 550-acre development now comprises 27 companies,


with Toyota, BT, Disney, Britvic and DHL joining Asda across 37 buildings with a floor space exceeding 10 million sq ft. Gwyn, whose company GLP has operated and developed


the park, says: “Its success has been built around the strategic location within the golden triangle.


‘The average building at Magna Park is about 200,000 sq ft but we’re seeing more demand for much bigger units’


“There wasn’t really anything of its nature previously – we had traditional industrial parks but with storage and distribution was just one element – so Magna Park has been a blueprint for the dedicated logistics parks we see today.” Furniture retailer Wayfair recently moved into a


warehouse exceeding a million sq ft, while the market is so strong that GLP speculatively built four more units on its southern extension. Three have already been let – one of the occupiers is a pharma company that’s distributing a


Covid-19 vaccine – and the other is under offer. “The average building at Magna Park is about 200,000


sq ft but we’re seeing more demand for much bigger units, which is why one of the speculative builds is 750,000 sq ft. “It allows businesses to future-proof their operations and


grow into them, rather than have to move somewhere else midway through their lease.”


LAST YEAR WITNESSED the logistics industry’s highest ever recorded take-up of warehouse space, at 504 million sq ft, according to Property Week’s latest industrial and logistics census – which also found 41% of occupiers expect they’ll need more space within two years. But land supply remains a major barrier. GLP has planning


permission to build another five warehouses at Magna Park, which would take its floorspace to 16 million sq ft and headcount to 15,000, but thereafter it would have to navigate the complex British planning system to expand further. “There’s obviously challenges because bigger buildings


are more land-hungry,” says Gwyn. “If you’re a council and decide to allocate 300 acres of land for future employment needs, a big warehouse could take 50 acres in one hit. “So we need to work with local authorities to forecast


these trends and pre-empt them, rather than be forced into being reactive or having to settle for sub-optimal locations.


business network June 2021 53


IDENTIFYING THE FUTURE SKILLS THE INDUSTRY NEEDS “At the same time, employers increasingly want ‘T-


shaped’ supply chain professionals who understand all elements, from procurement and customer service through to automation and operations, so there’s a much more complex range of skills needed. “It’s a smooth-running process that starts with a


brand’s website and ends up on your doorstep, so in the future, people will have to work across multiple functions and be strategic thinkers. “We want to inspire young people but there’s also a


massive emphasis on retraining for those already working in the industry.” To help prepare today’s and tomorrow’s workforce,


NWSLC has joined forces with GLP, logistics provider Wincanton and Aston University to set up CLEAR, which will offer skills training and professional development at all levels across the spectrum of logistics and supply chain roles. The training centre, which will initially be based at


Bittesby House in the Magna Park northern extension when it opens in July before moving to a bespoke facility within the broader logistics park development, will eventually accommodate 1,000 students along with applied research facilities. Marion adds: “By locating it on Magna Park, the


tenants can see the training hub and buy into it more easily, while the students also benefit from an immersive experience they wouldn’t necessarily get on a traditional college campus.”


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