Interview with Angie Fenton, Senior Director at Quod
Hear from Angie Fenton, Senior Director at Quod, about the value of the Industrial & Logistics Conference and its importance to the wider sector. In this interview, Angie shares why industry collaboration matters more than ever, what excites her most about her upcoming session, and the key insights she hopes attendees will take away.
Q) Why do you think the Industrial & Logistics Conference is important for the sector?
A) In terms of Planning Policy, this is the first major forum for the I&L sector following the publication of the draft NPPF in December 2025. Attendees will be interested in how “substantial weight” for freight and logistics and “Grey Belt” development will positively affect their sites and developments.
It is also exciting that traditional logistics will join with data centre operators and developers, and I expect interesting discussions about how they are competing for the same land. No doubt the elephant in the room - national grid capacity and access to power – will be discussed in detail. Ultimately this conference brings together leading developers, investors, technical experts and policymakers in the sector to collaborate and tackle the sectors biggest challenges head on. It is a very important conference for the sector.
Q) What excites you most about your upcoming session at the Industrial & Logistics Conference?
A) I am excited to hear opinions from developers and fund managers on the intensifying competition for land and power between traditional logistics and the now booming data centre sector. I'm keen to discuss the strategic shift toward sites with access to power - which are now prime assets—and whether the new NSIP regime for hyperscale data centres and AI Growth Zones will fast track planning and power consenting, as promised by Government.
I am also interested in whether we are seeing a permanent realignment of industrial land use toward higher-yield digital infrastructure – the country’s AI and data needs are still largely unknown, and we don’t know how data infrastructure will change or what its real estate needs will be in 5-10 years’ time.
Q) What do you hope attendees take away from your session?
A) That people come away with a better understanding of how recently published draft National Planning Framework (NPPF), which now provides explicit policy support for freight and logistics, can support I&L developments and be used to allocate strategic sites, protecting I&L pipelines.
In the case of hyper scale data centres, an understanding that the classification of data centres as Critical National Infrastructure and their inclusion in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime moves the decision making power from local planning authorities to an objective decision at a national level. It isn’t just about speed of decision making but also provides certainty.