How much warehouse space does your business need?

Map every activity that needs space

List the areas your business uses, including the ones that currently spill into corridors, vehicles or another room. Separate storage from the spaces where goods are handled. If a table is used for both checking deliveries and packing orders, consider whether those activities will still be able to share it as the business changes.

• Incoming deliveries and checking.
• Stock storage, including returns or damaged items.
• Preparation, assembly or other work processes.
• Packing and outgoing collections.
• Staff facilities, paperwork and essential equipment.

Measure what you actually hold

Use your busy period as well as a typical week. Count the cartons, pallets or larger items you hold, record their dimensions and note how often you need to access each group. Slow-moving items and frequently picked orders may need different arrangements.

Avoid estimating usable capacity from floor area multiplied by building height. How goods can be stored depends on the product, equipment, structure and safe access arrangements. Racking, stacking and equipment layouts need to be checked by the appropriate competent professionals.

Draw the movement, not just the storage

Sketch a route for goods and a separate route for people wherever appropriate. Mark doors, columns, fixed equipment and areas that need to stay clear. A rectangle on paper is a starting point; the layout of the particular building determines how much of it can be used for your operation.

For example, a business may need storage, a packing bench and a clear place for outgoing orders. If these are fitted tightly together with no space to turn, replenish or inspect stock, a nominally large enough unit may still be impractical. This is why two units with similar floor areas can work very differently.

Make growth assumptions explicit

Think about changes you can reasonably describe: an additional product line, larger delivery batches or another piece of equipment. Explain these as scenarios rather than adding an arbitrary percentage and treating it as a precise requirement.

It can help to make two layouts: one for the business as it operates now and another for the next stage you are planning. Label the assumptions behind each. This gives you something concrete to discuss at a viewing and helps distinguish useful room to grow from space you would struggle to use.

Turn your work into a useful enquiry

Send an approximate size range, a description of the activity and the measurements that really matter. Include the largest item that needs to get through a door, your usual delivery vehicle and any service requirements. If you do not yet know a floor-area figure, explain the layout or stock volumes instead.

For Aston Industrial Estate, also tell us when you would like to move and whether that timing is flexible. We can discuss suitable space as units become available. Sizes, layouts and services need to be confirmed for the individual unit; this planning guide is not a statement of current availability.