More speculative warehouse building is required in the UK, especially in the south-east of England, it has been claimed.

Jones Lang LaSalle has completed its latest Industrial Property Trends report, which suggested that 744,000 sq ft of logistics space is currently being erected by developers across the country, but this is not likely to be enough.

"With availability continuing on a downward trend, and much of the supply being in poorer quality units, there are shortages of good quality space in many locations," commented Tim Johnson of Jones Lang LaSalle's UK Industrial & Logistics team.

He added that there is particularly strong demand for large-scale units in and around London.

It is not just the UK-based firms that are struggling to find suitable distribution centres at the moment, as a previous report by Jones Lang LaSalle showed that European companies could require up to 25 million sq m of extra space over the next five years to cater for growing demand.