IN Brief:
- The 2026 European Logistics Census found that 47% of occupiers expect to require more warehouse space over the next one to three years.
- At the same time, 54% expect to vacate at least one building as companies consolidate networks and replace unsuitable facilities.
- Power is becoming a major property constraint, with 89% expecting requirements to rise and 26% already reporting insufficient capacity.
Savills and BGRE have found that European warehouse occupiers are becoming more selective about the buildings they use as power availability, automation readiness and specification gain weight alongside location and floor area. The 2026 European Logistics Census covers 628 participants, including 504 occupiers, and points towards companies expanding some parts of their networks while vacating buildings that no longer support the required operating model.
Almost half of occupiers, 47%, expect to require more warehouse space over the next one to three years, while 54% expect to leave at least one building. Those figures can coexist because network growth increasingly involves consolidation and replacement, with companies moving activity into fewer or better specified properties instead of simply adding another warehouse to the existing estate.
Electrical capacity is becoming one of the factors determining which buildings remain useful. Automation, charging infrastructure, materials handling equipment, refrigeration and IT systems can place much greater loads on the grid than an older warehouse was designed to support, and 89% of occupiers expect their power requirements to rise while 26% already report insufficient capacity within their portfolios.
A well located building can consequently become operationally unsuitable even when its structure remains sound. Installing automated storage, conveyors, robotics or large electric vehicle charging systems only works when the site can secure enough electricity, and increasing supply can depend on reinforcement elsewhere in the grid rather than a straightforward change inside the property.
IN Supply reported in September that Dutch logistics properties are already encountering similar infrastructure constraints, with grid congestion, fibre availability and building flexibility influencing whether sites can support more automated operations. The same principle applies across Europe as occupiers demand buildings capable of accommodating equipment upgrades over the life of a lease.
More than three quarters of respondents require eaves heights of at least 12 metres as standard, reflecting the same shift towards buildings able to support denser storage and greater automation. Taller facilities can use more of the available cubic volume, but the gain depends on racking design, lift equipment, fire protection, floor loading, dock capacity and internal travel distances remaining compatible with the higher inventory density.
Increasing storage density also changes the demands placed on power and handling systems because more inventory moving through the same footprint can require more automation, charging and conveyor capacity. A building that appears efficient on a square metre basis can therefore become constrained by its electrical connection or internal circulation before it runs out of physical floor space.
New construction gives occupiers more scope to specify those features from the outset, and 47% are targeting new stock while another 47% are considering build to suit space. Developers face many of the same constraints, however, with 77% citing power availability as a barrier, 73% pointing to planning and permitting timescales and 62% identifying construction costs.
Where suitable new stock cannot be delivered quickly enough, companies are left choosing between adapting an existing building, waiting for development or redesigning the operation around what is available. Each route carries a different cost: retrofits may require electrical and structural work, while development delays can prolong reliance on several smaller or less efficient sites.
European logistics leasing still strengthened during the first half of 2026, reaching 14.01 million sq m, 21% above the same period a year earlier. Earlier IN Supply analysis linked that recovery with resilience, inventory security and network consolidation, and the latest census shows that occupiers are becoming more demanding about the physical capabilities of the buildings selected for those reorganised networks.
The proportion of developers targeting medium sized logistics buildings increased from 38% in 2025 to 62%, while the share targeting large warehouses fell from 60% to 50%. Occupiers remain more evenly divided, with 42% selecting large buildings and 37% favouring medium sized space, showing that the required specification is changing alongside the preferred footprint.
Those figures suggest that size alone is becoming a weaker indicator of logistics value. Two warehouses with similar floor area can support very different throughput if one has sufficient power, yard depth, internal height and automation capacity while the other requires extensive upgrades before the intended operation can be installed.
Investors are responding by concentrating more heavily on prime assets, with 81% targeting prime logistics property compared with 73% a year earlier. That shift reflects the importance of buildings that can remain useful as occupier requirements change, because power supply, adaptable layouts and strong transport access can preserve operational value even when the technology inside the warehouse evolves.
For occupiers, property and technology planning are therefore converging. Decisions about robotics, electric fleets and inventory density increasingly have to be tested against the physical limits of the building before a lease is signed, because a warehouse that cannot support the intended power load or automation layout may be released even while the company expands its overall logistics footprint elsewhere.
The census consequently describes a market in which demand remains substantial but is becoming less tolerant of compromised assets. Warehouses with enough electricity, height, yard capacity and internal flexibility can support more intensive logistics activity, while buildings that fall short on those fundamentals risk losing occupiers to newer or better adapted space even when overall demand is rising.
