It is clear from speaking to customers that ensuring their logistics space is fit for purpose for the future, both operationally and economically, is foremost in their decision making.
In our recent occupier survey, most cited pressures of labour availability and spiralling utility costs as being of high concern. With this in mind, many occupiers are adopting – or plan to adopt – automation within their processes so they can become more efficient. Automation requires power and readily available skilled engineers to maintain it. Both are commodities in high demand.
Appreciating power availability needs to be a key criterion in asset and land acquisition due diligence. At Tritax, we assess how renewable energy can supplement or replace conventional power supplies to support both our and our customers’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas. The aim is to improve the credentials of the property, while maximising resilience and cost efficiencies.
There are different renewable options available to reduce costs, such as roof or ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) panels or wind turbines, as well as rainwater harvesting for toilets and vehicle wash stations.
While our modelling usually indicates that our customers’ full power requirements cannot be met solely by solar PV, a scheme can create significant cost savings and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. Renewable power sources are often intermittent and without storage solutions it is difficult to achieve the full benefit. We anticipate that battery technology will improve and provide more economic storage solutions.
As companies and employees increasingly move to trialling new forms of transportation, such as electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles, assets need to have the infrastructure to support this transition.
Indices such as the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets (GRESB) have allowed greater scrutiny of consumption data across assets, making it possible to review the data for similar properties and to evaluate where to make efficiencies. Submeters and heat mapping can also direct how well each area of the property is being used, showing where, through better use of space and reductions in heating and lighting requirements, occupiers can minimise or even remove unnecessary costs. These findings are supporting more widespread adoption of energy-efficient technologies, such as LED lighting with sensors and improved insulation.
In addition to wanting to do the right thing, the drive to be net zero has moved up the corporate agenda and is a high priority for most occupiers, who have clear priorities and timelines. To achieve these relies on a more collaborative, progressive approach between occupiers and property owners.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each occupier has bespoke power needs. It’s important to understand their individual requirements as well as new innovations and legislative changes to help ensure occupiers have logistics solutions that are not just fit for today but also for the future.
Petrina Austin is partner and head of asset management at Tritax
Blink and you’d have missed them, but a year on from Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s widely derided clanger of a ‘mini Budget’, housebuilders and estate agents are still reporting the aftermath. Imagine if the former prime minister and chancellor had unleashed a ‘maxi Budget’?
No comments yet