Strong H1 for South and West Yorkshire’s industrial market

Knight Frank has assembled the data and it’s good news for the two counties’ logistics activity, including the largest letting for Yorkshire so far this year.

South Yorkshire highlights

The region saw 2.4m sq ft of industrial space transacted, which is the strongest H1 start for the region since 2021.

Take-up of mid-size units of more than 50,000 sq ft in Q2 exceeded 1.1m sq ft, more than double the space taken in the same period last year (422,000 sq ft).

However, the real activity was seen in the big box sector, with units measuring more than 100,000 sq ft accounting for 86% of the transactions in H1, 2025.

Four units of more than 250,000 sq ft were let during the period, compared to zero transactions of this size last year.

The largest deal for South Yorkshire this year took place in Q2 at Bessemer Park in Sheffield, which saw the 293,000 sq ft Unit 3a let to doorset manufacturer Jeld-Wen.

This deal brought the park to full occupancy, and was brokered by Knight Frank, CBRE and CPP representing owner PLP, while Jeld-Wen was supported by JLL.

Bessemer Park is a development by PLP, the specialist in logistics and industrial property set up in 2015 as a joint venture, with partners Ivanhoé Cambridge, Peel L&P, and Macquarie Asset Management.

In  terms of occupier trends, distribution firms accounted for more than half of lettings for the first half of the year (51%), while manufacturing took a growing share of 38%, up from 12% this time last year.

West Yorkshire

Meanwhile in West Yorkshire, H1, 2025 has brought in 1.7m sq ft of industrial lettings, an increase of 41% on H1, 2024.

Mirroring South Yorkshire, this is the strongest first-half performance for the county since 2021, and marks a three-year upward trend.

Yorkshire’s largest letting this year so far was completed by ID Logistics, which took 556,000 sq ft at Logicor’s Sherburn 550 in Selby.

Knight Frank and Carter Jonas were the agents involved with the deal.

There were also two 250,000+ sq ft lettings in Q1: Torque’s 400,000 sq ft signing at Wakefield’s Europort, handled by CBRE and Carter Towler, and Sika’s 280,000 sq ft deal at Sherburn42, which was brokered by Colliers and Carter Towler.

Knight Frank includes the Sherburn lettings in its West Yorkshire results.

A further five lettings in H1 involved deals in the 50,000-100,000 sq ft size range, with one in the 100,000-250,000 size bracket.

Commenting on the South Yorkshire region, Rebecca Schofield, partner at Knight Frank said: “Occupiers are taking time to make decisions but we have seen a number of transactions happen at the larger end of the market, which is positive as it demonstrates occupier confidence is returning.

“Whilst there remains choice in the market, some size brackets, such as the 100,000–150,000 sq ft bracket, are seeing more limited supply.

“Demand for the region continues to be from a mixture of B8 and B2 occupiers, which we expect to continue. Availability of power continues to be a driver for both B2 and B8 occupiers.”

Turning to the West Yorkshire and Humber markets, Iain McPhail, partner in Knight Frank’s Leeds Logistics and Industrial Agency team, said: “Take-up in Q2 hit around 750,000 sq ft (50,000 sq ft+).

“Whilst take-up is expected to surpass last year’s total by the end of the next quarter (with over 400,000 sq ft of space under offer), it will highlight the even greater need for speculative development in prime West Yorkshire.

“For greater context, there are now only nine grade A units available in the region, none of which are larger that 200,000 sq ft.

“Consequently rental growth and market sentiment continue to increase in the region with the mid-box headline rent now reaching a new market high of £10.25 psf achieved at Leeds Valley Park.”