‘Location, Location, Location’ is often the mantra used when assessing whether or not property may be considered desirable, but this is not generally the case with industrial developments where location may be important but it is the local infrastructure and connectivity that unlocks the developments. Much of this is fuelled by the increase in ecommerce / online shopping and the demands of customers for faster and faster delivery times.
Distribution buildings need to accommodate fast moving operations and the design of logistics parks, distribution centres and warehouses need to facilitate these trends. Narrower and higher (increased heights to haunch) buildings, larger numbers of delivery / loading bay doors, larger aprons / yards will all be important in the larger units which are located on major infrastructure (air, road and rail) hubs. Smaller units in populated areas are also desirable for smaller local distribution and those last mile runs. Design needs to accommodate the operation, comply with applicable standards and planning requirements and deliver other corporate goals of sustainability, renewable energy and carbon footprint reduction