The last-minute online shop for holidays and birthdays is something we can all relate to. Time is running out and if we quickly order something now to arrive at the office tomorrow, we’ll just about make the big day.

Nevertheless, with more and more people across the UK and the rest of Europe using online shopping to save time and often money, have we really considered what the implications are for buildings dealing with a surge of deliveries to the office?

Is it fair to assume we will see companies considering on/off site delivery provision when choosing new office space? Most certainly yes. This ultimately feeds back to the design of the office space which is something that needs to be incorporated into the planning stages of a building. This is obviously difficult to implement retrospectively, but is something we could see more of in newer offices.

According to Savills latest What Workers Want report, around 50 per cent of 18-34-year old office workers across Europe place parcel delivery as one of the most important factors in an office space. On top of this, the UK and the Netherlands are two of the most dissatisfied countries when it comes to parcel delivery and collection lockers located near their place of work.

For landlords the influx of deliveries arriving at their back doors is posing, firstly, a space issue, secondly, a debate as to whose responsibility it is to collect and distribute these parcels.

With e-commerce set to grow in every European country over the next five years, we can expect to see many innovative solutions come forward. In the UK discussions have begun about the potential repurposing of redundant retail space in urban environments to last mile logistics hubs. DPD has already taken former car park space in ultra-urban environments to allow it to undertake last mile delivery operations.

In Germany DHL is trialing a system that allows parcels to be delivered directly into the boot of a car when it is in a car park and, in France, SEGRO has fully let a multi-story unit which it developed speculatively close to Central Paris.

With an abundance of potential, the industrial sector needs much more investment into creating innovative and efficient spaces – multistorey and underground warehousing to name but a few – to aid brands to get their products to their consumers as quickly as possible.

Coupled with other topics such as sustainability and lower emissions in capital cities, we can expect to see a lot of disruption in the last mile logistics sector in the next few years, especially as more and more European countries become well-acquainted with the burgeoning relationship between retail and logistics.

Landlords and occupiers alike will need to bear this trend, which shows no sign of slowing, in mind when it comes to factoring in what their workers want.

Further information

Read more: What Workers Want: Europe 2019