Evolution For A Revolution

Testing the logistics building specification for the next industrial revolution

The technology inside industrial and logistics buildings is changing faster than the buildings themselves.

Automation is becoming more sophisticated. Electrification is increasing demand for power. AI is changing how businesses manage goods and data. Supply chains continue to evolve.

Yet the buildings supporting those activities may remain in use for 30, 40 or 50 years.

So how do you design today for technologies and operating models that may not yet exist?

Our white paper argues that the answer lies in flexibility.

Not flexibility as under-specification, but the designed-in capacity of a building to accommodate different technologies, operational requirements and occupiers over its lifetime.

Download the white paper

Five forces are changing what businesses need from their buildings

Automation is changing design and increasing requirements for height, floor loading, power and unobstructed operating space.

Power is becoming one of the biggest constraints on development and technology deployment as electrification increases demand on already constrained grids.

Fit-out requirements are becoming more sophisticated while individual technologies and operating models can change rapidly.

Sustainability increasingly requires buildings to accommodate new energy systems and continue adapting over a long operational life.

The workforce is changing too, creating environments in which people and increasingly sophisticated machines will operate alongside one another.

Together, these forces create a fundamental design challenge: build precisely for today's requirements or preserve the ability to respond to tomorrow's.

The case for flexibility

The paper considers flexibility across five dimensions.

Building design

Height, floor loading, column grids and configuration determine the range of operations a building can accommodate.

Designing greater adaptability into the structure can expand the range of technologies and uses it can support over its lifetime.

Power

A future-ready building increasingly needs the ability to operate across different energy strategies, combining grid connections with options such as on-site generation, storage and EV charging.

This matters because power availability is already affecting where and when industrial development can happen.

Fit-out

Highly bespoke buildings can work extremely well for an occupier with long-term operational certainty.

But where future requirements are less predictable, a smart base build can preserve the ability to adopt different automation technologies without major structural intervention.

Sustainability

Long-lived buildings need to be capable of decarbonising as technology evolves.

That can mean preparing structures and energy infrastructure for future upgrades rather than trying to specify every solution on day one.

Workforce

Automation does not remove people from the equation.

Buildings need to accommodate changing workforce requirements too, including adaptable training, office and welfare space and the changing needs of people working alongside increasingly automated systems.

Flexibility in practice

At SEGRO Park Axis near Heathrow, a back-to-frame redevelopment created a modern logistics building with eaves heights of up to 15 metres in the new frame, a generous power envelope and space capable of supporting greater automation as the occupier's operation evolves.

At SEGRO Logistics Park Rugby Gateway, Evri has been able to trial autonomous guided vehicles within its 235,000 sq ft hub without structural modification.

And at Slough Trading Estate, an existing warehouse was dismantled and reconstructed elsewhere on the estate, saving 530 tonnes of carbon and demonstrating how adaptable even the physical structure of logistics real estate can be.

Preparing for a range of futures

There will still be circumstances where highly specialised buildings are the right answer, particularly where occupiers are making substantial long-term investments in bespoke technology.

The challenge is knowing when specificity creates value and when flexibility creates value.

Future-proofing does not mean predicting exactly what will happen next.

It means creating buildings capable of remaining useful as technology, businesses and the economy continue to change.

Download Evolution for a revolution