Big sheds get electric boost as Goodman customers drive sustainability

Industrial property giant Goodman Group is future-proofing its sheds with reinforced roofs, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, large electrical conduits, EV charge points and big batteries as its customers race to hit sustainability targets.

Strong tenant demand for warehouse, seen during the pandemic, has not abated.Credit: AP

In a dramatic re-engineering of the simple industrial shed, the $32 billion global developer, fund manager and landlord says its new warehouses are fully integrated and sustainable, capable of linking rooftop solar to on-site batteries, providing built-in electric charge points, and potential drone delivery access.

However, the green conversion – driven by its top-20 customers – does not come cheap: It adds between 3 per cent and 10 per cent to the cost of its buildings.

“You need to be putting those features in your building because that’s the future of the fleets that are coming in,” chief executive Greg Goodman said. “It’s got to be a power station.”

“Our big customers want to get more out of their buildings. They’re paying more, but they want more productivity,” he said.

In a quarterly update this week, Goodman confirmed strong tenant demand, seen during the pandemic, has not abated, with occupancy around 99 per cent. “Statistically, that means we don’t have anything available for lease globally,” he said.

That has resulted in rents outstripping values. Across the group’s US portfolio, rents are about 50 per cent under market rates, and in Australia and Europe, they are about 20 per cent below. That difference will protect the landlord from an unfolding slump in property values driven by recent investor excess.

“That was a point in time, in most parts of the world, where you had an excessive amount of capital, an enormous amount of stupidity, and effectively a bubble that is now unwinding,” Goodman said.

The industrial developer confirmed it is on target to increase earnings per security by 11 per cent, and provide a full-year distribution of 30¢ per security.

Technical director Craig Clark said all of Goodman’s biggest tenants are looking at ways to lower their carbon footprints.

Among the group’s top-20 customers are online shopping giant Amazon, logistics group DHL, shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk, supermarket group Coles and Chinese ecommerce behemoth JD.com.

“Recently in Europe, we’ve built Amazon multi-deck EV charge stations adjacent to their parcel delivery centre that can accommodate 400 vans,” Clark said.

Greg Goodman, chief executive of Goodman Group, says its big customers want to get more out of their buildings.Credit: Brook Mitchell

The multi-decks are equipped with low-trickle chargers for overnight boosting, but the warehouse has fast-charge points at its loading docks to re-energise trucks while they stock up.

The landlord is also rolling out battery pilot projects in Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai.

“We want to see the amount of draw, we want to make sure these things are feasible, and we can only do that with real data that we’ll be able to share across the group,” he said.

Goodman is working on the battery technology with Tesla in Japan and Australia and Legend Energy in China.

It has also taken a stake in electric taxi and drone start-up Skyports through a Series B funding round, and is exploring options for drone delivery facilities on its estates.

Skyports is pushing to locate “vertiports” in industrial and other precincts.

Goodman is halfway to meeting its 2025 target of installing 400 megawatts of solar on its rooftops globally, on-selling the energy to its tenants.

Clark said the big design change to warehouses was including enough infrastructure into the base development to allow other sustainable solutions to be easily added, when required. “Over the next five to 10 years it is only going to accelerate,” Clark said.