Gazeley is to develop the U.K.'s first three-storey warehouse as demand for last-mile delivery sites in London mushrooms.

Gazeley has acquired a 6-acre plot at Silvertown, in London’s Docklands, where it will speculatively develop the 426K SF warehouse.

If successful the example could be repeated around London, where land supply problems are becoming acute and pressure for urban logistics floorspace is growing fast.

Multi-storey warehousing has dedicated supporters in mainland Europe, where Segro operate multi-storey units in France and Germany, but the idea has been slow to catch on in the U.K.

Birmingham, where logistics land is in particularly tight supply, could be the first location outside London where the mathematics of multi-storey warehousing adds up.

The 6-acre Gazeley site at Silvertown was acquired from joint venture partners Galliard Homes and Cain International, represented by Levy Real Estate.

Gazeley said that with scarce land available in London and an increasingly on-demand economy, distribution and logistics operations must find new ways to keep up with increasing delivery volumes demanded in shorter time periods.

The move comes almost exactly a year after Segro pondered plans for 450K SF multi-storey warehousing in Enfield.

Segro already operate the U.K.’s single large multi-storey warehouse at Heathrow, a 230K SF facility next to the airport.