Hit the North!

WHILE TOMORROW’S Warehouse has been established with four events at the Coventry CBS Arena for a few years now, October represented the event’s Manchester debut, at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on 2 October. 

We were delighted with the sell-out event, which secured more than 450 attendees creating palpable buzz on the day. As ever, the seminar theatres took centre stage, with a crack team of experts assembled to present unique insights on a variety of key issues in the warehouse. Also making its debut was the Warehouse Property seminar theatre, featuring insights on topics ranging from regional and national market analysis provided by Dave Travis, head of Manchester, Tritax Big Box Developments, Kevin Mofid, head of EMEA Industrial and Logistics Research, Savills, Clare Bottle CEO at UK Warehousing Association, as well as our very own Liza Helps, property editor, Logistics Matters.

The property theatre also hosted seminar sessions that delved into more specialised and technical areas, tackling the energy issue, think solar power, energy hubs and looming regulatory demands regarding EPC certificates. Many thanks to the expertise of Base Power’s Steven Jeffers and Jamie Baxter from Carter Jonas, among others. We also looked closely at the issue of managing warehouse fire risk with the help of Ocado’s Alison Philips and Iain Cox of the Business Sprinkler Alliance. 

In the main theatre it was standing room only as we tackled Warehouse transformation and automation in our opening sessions, featuring industry heavyweights Amy McNamara, outlining fast fashion firm Boohoo’s astonishing journey of warehouse development, which is continuing at pace. 

We also had John Munnelly from John Lewis who highlighted the danger of equipment obsolescence as warehouse automation installations grow long in the tooth. These things come in cycles and we predict the next five years will see many warehouse ops heads see this (perhaps unwelcome and little thought about) issue looming on their agenda. 

We were also joined by Rueben Scriven from Interact Analysis who delivered his take on high level trends in the rapidly evolving warehouse automation sector. Gavin Harrison from headline sponsor Element Logic UK spoke on ‘humans v machines - the eight myths of warehouse automation’. This tackled the industry’s preconceptions of automated warehousing and how to make the most of your operation. We also had the benefit of the great insights of Sarah Payne, Head of Central Logistics, Jaguar Land Rover in this session.

After lunch we looked at forklift safety. Karl Wilshaw, fleet director, Travis Perkins told a story of the development of a unique sound alert named SIVAS to address concerns about the operational quietness of electric forklifts. UKMHA Chief Executive Rob Fisher educated the audience on initiatives to help reduce incidents and called on warehouse occupiers to get actively involved and ensure they are up to date when it comes to warehouse and site safety.

We also learned about Freeport opportunities from Jonathan Coleman, Freeport Project Manager, Liverpool City Region Freeport. The new Liverpool City Region Freeport offers impetus for new warehouse development, job opportunities, and much more. Jonathan was joined by Jennifer Swain, Director of Talent, Development and HR, Road to Logistics, who tackled how equality drives better outcomes for all. Road to Logistics is a national training program to encourage new talent into the transport and logistics industry from sections of society where individuals need help and support.

Jennifer was a real highlight of the day, a person who very much lives and breathes the message she delivers, bringing great help to many people. Staff the logistics sector needs, and who themselves simply need a second chance.

What’s more, the event offered a great opportunity for networking. With complimentary lunch, coffee, refreshments, and parking throughout the day, logistics operations people took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones. In addition, attendees earned up to 14 hours of CPD accredited educational content, and had the benefit of 50+ exhibitors who have the solutions and the collaborative skills to help attendees embark on the next stage of their warehouse journey with confidence. 

Please add two Tomorrow’s Warehouse dates to your diary for 2025:

• Coventry, May 15, 2025
• Manchester, September 30, 2025

Excitingly, Coventry’s Tomorrow’s Warehouse will feature the debut of the Warehouse Transformation Awards. See www.logisticsmatters.co.uk/New-Awards-warehouse-transformation-2025 for more details.