Logistics developers need to focus on small-scale inner-city sites to meet the demands of customers for fast, flexible delivery, Frank Weber, JLL's head of industrial agency in Germany, has told PropertyEU.
The sector's future-proofing demands require builders to create smaller warehouses capable of a high turnover of goods. Advances in technology and the use of robots will allow suppliers to pack more goods into smaller spaces while employing fewer staff.
One solution is to convert vacant buildings into urban areas, such as offices and hotels, Weber said at Expo Real. 'The key issue will be that we have limited space available, especially in the metropolitan areas. So we will have to do a lot of refurbishment work, because if people want to have their goods faster – Amazon, for instance, are delivering within a two-hour timeframe – then you need the space in the inner city circle.'
'There's one European-based developer who has raised a lot of money recently to focus on this asset class – city logistics – to meet the requirements of consumers, but let's not forget business to business deals as they are following those trends,' Weber said.
Watch the full interview on PropertyEU's YouTube channel
