The UK received more than 4.2 billion parcels in 2024–25, according to Ofcom. That's a huge number of deliveries making their way into homes and apartment buildings every year.

But where do all those parcels go when nobody is home?

This growth matters for residential buildings because every missed delivery has to be stored somewhere until the recipient collects it.

Too often, they end up in communal areas. One parcel left outside an apartment might not seem like a problem. When several start to pile up, however, they can obstruct corridors, create trip hazards and make shared spaces harder to manage.

And if that corridor or hallway is also an escape route, that's a problem.

Ofcom found that 23% of parcel recipients had experienced a parcel being left in an inappropriate location. As online shopping continues to grow, the issue is becoming harder for residential buildings to ignore.

Keeping parcels out of the way

Residents can't always be there to take delivery. Couriers need somewhere safe to leave parcels, while buildings need to consider what happens when those deliveries arrive.

A dedicated parcel box gives parcels somewhere to go instead of leaving them in hallways or other shared spaces.

But there is another question to ask: what happens when parcel boxes are located within a fire-sensitive area?

That's where 2-hour fire-rated parcel boxes can offer an important advantage: they provide a dedicated storage point while supporting the wider fire-safety strategy for the building.

The Safety Letterbox Company offers 2-hour fire-rated intelligent parcel box systems tested by Warringtonfire, allowing fire-rated parcel storage to be considered from the outset rather than relying on standard parcel boxes in areas where fire safety needs careful consideration.

At Ebury Bridge in Westminster, SLB recently supplied 2-hour fire-rated mailboxes alongside matching 2-hour fire-rated parcel boxes for the residential development.

For SLB, this focus on safer shared-space storage is part of a longer product-development story.

40 years of innovation

2026 marks 40 years of The Safety Letterbox Company, a milestone that reflects the company's long-running focus on safer mail and parcel storage for residential buildings.

Founded in South Wales in 1986, SLB has spent four decades developing mailbox and parcel solutions for the built environment. The company introduced fire-rated mailboxes in 2002 and developed its 2-hour fire-rated range in 2019.

This year has brought another major milestone, with SLB receiving the King's Award for Enterprise 2026: Innovation for its work developing innovative fire-rated mail and parcel solutions.
As parcel deliveries increase, storage is becoming part of a much bigger fire-safety conversation.

Where parcels are left matters, especially when that space is also the way out.