With 46 multi-storey warehouses built or under development around the world, Goodman is exploring further multi-level opportunities in strategic locations across Europe, with a key focus on sustainability.
The world is becoming more urban. In 2050, more than two thirds of the global population will live in cities.
Proximity to consumers is crucial for businesses to meet same day – or same hour – delivery demand, while reducing carbon emissions and fulfilling their sustainability goals. As consumer expectations grow, so too does the pressure to create more environmentally-friendly deliveries, driving the need for greater efficiency across the whole supply chain.
Transport accounts for approximately 50 – 70 per cent of supply chain costs, spurring businesses to seek strategically-located warehouses close to urban areas and major international freight infrastructure. Yet, as urbanisation continues, land in key locations is in short supply, and it’s necessary to build properties upward, rather than outward.
Multi-storey logistics centres offer a sophisticated solution to land scarcity challenges, reducing last mile distances and the pressure on urban areas, streamlining delivery processes and easing up traffic, while providing flexibility to scale and adapt. At Goodman, we have 46 multi-storey developments across Asia, Australia and Europe, where land shortages and proximity challenges require innovative solutions.
Bringing industrial property where it is needed most
Multi-storey facilities and warehouses maximise urban space. A prime example is Goodman Interlink in Hong Kong’s Tsing Yi district, close to the city’s container ports, International Airport and major highways to mainland China.
Completed in March 2012, Goodman Interlink spans 230,000 sqm across 22 floors - 15 with ramp access. It was the largest warehouse being developed globally at the time of construction, and the first of its kind in Hong Kong to achieve a Gold standard pre-certification rating from Hong Kong Building Environments Assessment Method and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.
In China, online retail sales are forecast to approach four trillion U.S. dollars by 2026. To service demand for space in a rapidly expanding market, multi-storey buildings are common in densely populated areas like Hong Kong and Shanghai. However, multi-storey buildings are not necessarily skyscrapers. Our multi-level facilities range from two levels all the way up to 22.
These developments also help to enhance city life and benefit local communities through incorporating cafes, fitness and recreation facilities.
Our Chiba Business Park, just outside Tokyo, provides amenities for workers and the community including The Green - a retail facility with a nursery school, gym, food and beverage outlets - and a truck drivers’ Facility.
A development model that respects the land and the environment
Brownfield sites are integral to our sustainability strategy, offering opportunities to regenerate existing land and buildings, reuse materials and reduce waste and construction emissions, while providing facilities in strategic locations close to consumers and infrastructure. Transforming brownfield sites also unlocks labour benefits for our customers because they are generally close to a large workforce.
If we look to Barcelona, land is increasingly scarce. With the vacancy rate in the Catalan logistics market currently around two per cent, the answer is to build upwards. In response, Goodman Castellbisbal Logistics Centre represents a multi-storey development featuring two units of 13,200 m2. Located at an intersection of the two most important highways in Spain, just 28 km from the centre of Barcelona, customers benefit from fast access to the city’s 5.5 million consumers.
Multi-level facilities not only offer more space, but greater flexibility. Utilising multiple storeys, we mapped our Molins de Rei Logistics Centre in Barcelona to the topography of the area, reducing land consumption by 31 per cent and enabling our customer to integrate its two business areas into a single space. This large brownfield development also recovered over 100,000 m2 of green space in the surrounding Collserola Natural Park, giving the area a new lease of life.
Goodman is exploring further multi-level opportunities across Europe, working with local municipalities and customers. Our focus is on delivering high-value properties in strategic locations, with a key focus on sustainability.
As populations continue to grow, multi-level buildings will likely become commonplace in Europe as they are in other global regions, helping to benefit cities, populations, and the local environment.
