Pan‐European industrial property
| Published date | 01 August 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14635780510602435 |
| Date | 01 August 2005 |
| Pages | 379-385 |
| Author | Bob Thompson |
| Subject Matter | Property management & built environment |
PRACTICE BRIEFING
Pan-European industrial property
Bob Thompson
RETRI Group, Upminster, UK
Abstract
Purpose – Aims to highlights the changes ongoing in the distribution and logistics property sector
across Europe and to show that wide differences remain between the sophisticated warehouse
properties available in mature property markets and those available in traditional parochial markets
found prevalently across the continent and especially in central and eastern Europe.
Design/methodology/approach – The briefing is based on empirical and commercial research in
all the national industrial property markets within the EU. It addresses changes in the drivers
affecting logistics property and the industry responses to them. The changes include outsourcing; a
desire for more flexible, responsive supply chains; globalisation of manufacturing; legislative change;
and growing IT capability. Industry responses include the development of complex, highly specified
warehousing; increased demand for sophisticated telecommunications; and optimization of location.
Findings – Sub-optimal locations and poor specification have a direct impact on the cost of the
operations using them. As a consequence logistics providers gravitate to newer, more highly specified
buildings in locations optimised for their use. In an environment where, traditionally, distribution has
a national focus, optimising locations for pan-European distribution will inevitably render some
locations sub-optimal.
Originality/value – As Europe moves towards a genuine single market, traditional, nationally-
based distribution chains become ever less efficient in the delivery of goods. Concurrently, the
complexity and configuration of the warehouse product are changing to accommodate more efficient
identification, storage and retrieval technologies along with the need to service new types of market.
Keywords Industrial property,Distribution management, Warehousing, Europe
Paper type General review
Introduction
Pan-European distribution seems a logical solution for a pan-European market, yet
wide differences remain between the sophisticated warehouse properties available in
say the UK or Belgium and more traditional parochial markets found more prevalently
across the continent.
Over the last decade, the non-food retail market has become increasingly
international. With some 75 per cent of products destined for the European market
sourced from outside the EU, the effective management of international supply chains
is critical in order to ensure that the consumer demands are met. However, in the main
European markets – the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – inbound logistics
costs can average between 10-30 per cent of total costs suggesting that supply chains
are not optimal for customers or retailers.
The food supply chain tends to be shorter, more local and able to respond more
quickly to changes in demand. However, here too there have been significant changes
with food products moving far more quickly from harvesting/production to the
consumer and more exotic produce being made available year round.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Pan-European
industrial
property
379
Journal of Property Investment &
Finance
Vol. 23 No. 4, 2005
pp. 379-385
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-578X
DOI 10.1108/14635780510602435
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