Beauty in simplicity

No matter how many warehouse parks I look at, I always have the impression that they are all the same 
– tin boxes which differ only in the colours of some of the elements. Even though the main priority is usually to optimize costs, everyone would still rather operate from ‘prettier’ premises

Emil Górecki

This is the way people who do not have anything to do with the warehouse market think. But those who have worked longer in this sector can see not only the practical qualities of warehousing, but the aesthetic ones as well. “The beauty of a warehouse is not very high on the list of clients’ requirements, but it is true that warehouses are becoming ‘prettier’ ie. more aesthetically-pleasing, thanks to professional signage, well cared for green areas, as well as increasingly modern building materials,” maintains Robert Dobrzycki, managing partner for Central and Eastern Europe of Panattoni Europe.

It’s about the swagger, not the detail

A bit of variation can be brought into the layout of a logistic park if there are offices located next to warehouses. More sophisticated buildings (if you can call it ‘sophistication’) can be found when tenants value the visual effect. These can be, for example, clothing companies, and others which attach particular importance to their corporate identity. In their cases, the image can be correlated with income if they are prepared to invest in the distinctiveness of their premises. Also the companies which have their offices on site, sometimes even the national or regional headquarters, are willing to invest in the beauty of warehouses. Orsay, which leases over 27,000 sqm of warehouse space in Bielany Wrocławskie, where it also has an office of 2,400 sqm, is one of Panattoni’s examples of such a tenant. “It is one of the biggest near-warehouse offices in our portfolio. It has a glass façade, which gives it a very elegant look,” says Robert Dobrzycki.

Are there many tenants that are similarly demanding? Not yet. The developer has only a few that it leases to. Apart from Orsay, they include H&M in Poznań and Coca-Cola in Mysłowice. Companies sometimes decide to relocate their offices to the warehouse complexes where they are tenants. It is good both for operational reasons and financial ones. However, most warehouses are just standard boxes. “Their beauty does not lie in the external details but in the swagger of the enterprise. Huge logistic parks make a great impression. To see 700,000 sqm under one roof is really something special!” – enthuses Robert Dobrzycki.

Beauty bottom of the list

According to Marta Tęsiorowska, the vice president of marketing and communications for ProLogis Central & Eastern Europe, it is important to remember that warehouse parks are not recreational parks. They should be clean, practical, functional, well thought out and environmentally friendly, both with regard to their utility and outlook. ProLogis attaches particular importance to the greenery of the area of a warehouse park; however, every solution must have an economic justification. This is why the developer uses plants and grass suitable for the kind of soil, pleasing on the eye and practical in terms of maintenance, rather than lush vegetation that needs constant and expensive nurturing. “Regardless of this, most prospective tenants take into account first of all the location, the rent and the standard of the facilities. Next on the list comes the security, the number of parking spaces and the external infrastructure, such as bars for drivers and the already-mentioned land development and greenery. The situation changes when the logistic parks of different developers are located next to each other and offer similar standards and rates. Then the green areas, the branding and the aesthetics of the park may turn out to be crucial,” argues Marta Tęsiorowska. It is worth adding that she is one of the few women – even in this industry – who consider warehousing to be a highly feminine and extremely delightful topic.

What can warehouse developers do to enhance the aesthetics of their parks? First of all they usually have a uniform system of park visualization, including a colour scheme, plates with building numbers, trademarks and logotypes – including banners, flags and a variety of signs positioned within the park. In order to emphasize its presence in many countries, ProLogis puts up posts in its parks indicating the directions and distances to its selected logistic parks across the world. Also the clients’ logotypes have standard sizes and placement, which determine the graphic layout in their facilities. The elements cannot be too expensive or unpractical though. “Visualizations often portray warehouses with large logos of the developers on the roofs. In reality we do not use such solutions because of their low visibility as advertising carriers, and the relatively high cost of execution and maintenance of a logotype on the roof, particularly in our climate zone, which requires the removal of snow and ice. And the logotypes appear in the visualizations in order to make it easier for clients to identify the park and remember the developer,” explains Marta Tęsiorowska. Instead, the introduction of standard colours and markers is a solution used by all the big developers in the warehouse sector, as a result of the need for coherent communication and corporate aesthetics. “This does not mean that we will not adjust to the expectations of our clients. We are flexible in this respect, especially taking into account the current market situation and places where our competition is strong. We can build warehouses of all sizes and shapes at the client’s request,” claims Robert Dobrzycki of Panattoni Europe. This declaration should be of no surprise, since the rule ‘our client is our boss’ is well known. However, it needs to be remembered that non-standard solutions are simply more expensive.

A straightforward comparison between logistic parks in Central Europe and in the West is not easy. As opposed to the common view, not everybody thinks that our part of the continent is lagging behind in this respect. The fact is that nowadays more new warehouses are being completed in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary than in France or Great Britain. This means that it is here that the more modern facilities are being built, although not in every respect.

Dictatorship of the tenants

Despite globalization, the European common market and the operations of international companies, differences between logistic parks in developed countries and those in developing ones are most evident. “Almost all major warehouse operators, such as DHL and Norbert Dentessangle, can be found in countries throughout the whole of Europe. They build according to their own corporate standards, although when warehouses in Poland are compared with those in France and Britain specific differences can be observed. One of the most evident is that developers in the West pay much greater attention to the land around buildings and not solely to roads and infrastructure. Large logistic parks there are much greener than they are in Poland. Modern warehouses in somewhere such as the UK blend in better with the local environment, with green solutions being much more widely applied. The fact that most warehouses are constructed for large consortiums explains why higher standards are becoming popular and are shifting from the more developed countries to those which are at an earlier stage of development,” claims Ian Worboys, CEO of PointPark Properties (formely Pinnacle) – a warehouse developer active in several West and Central Europe countries.

In the West, pro-environmental solutions are required by legal regulations – as well as by the tenants. Despite the fact that they are also often active across Europe and declare their support for green solutions, the implementation of these solutions is not so important for tenants in the Eastern part of the continent as it is in the West. A strong environmental culture is still missing here. Besides, every euro, złoty or krone counts. And some countries are not so eager to support innovative, environmentally friendly installations. “In Great Britain and France, such pro-ecological and environmentally-friendly installations are much more the norm. However, the fact that the majority of warehouses are built for big, international companies spreads the popularity of higher standards and increases the possibility for them to be exported from the more developed countries to the developing ones,” adds Ian Worboys.

Czech Republic is in the lead

Robert Dobrzycki of Panattoni Europe admits that even though the warehouses roofs are perfect for the installation of solar panels, this is not a very common practice in a climate such as ours. However, this is not the case in the south of Europe. Due to the high costs, the implementation of such installations requires the support and encouragement of the state. So far this has not occurred in Poland. The regional trendsetter is the Czech Republic, where energy saving and ecology have been embraced by the authorities, not just when paying lip service, but also in real politics.

The young warehouse market is rapidly maturing in our country, so it is not difficult to see the differences in the approach employed in logistic parks today and 10 years ago. In the future they are likely to keep improving, to be more competitive, and consequently more aesthetically pleasing. A study of the market trends reveals the growing popularity of smaller, so-called flexible warehouses. Flexibility consists in the possibility of the free arrangement of the building with regard to office space or warehousing, most often combining these two functions. It is a well-known fact that tenants attach more importance to the appearance of their offices, and as a result the appearance of the whole, mixed complex is improved and becomes more varied. For example, such mixes are already being developed in the Czech Republic.