Warehouse design process

In this episode, Tomasz Szpyt speaks with Joanna Lewandowska, Head of Construction & Design at 7R.

Listen to this podcast and find out:

• What is the difference between designing a warehouse and designing, for example, a residential building?
• What tools and systems does a modern architect use, and what benefits do they provide?
• What are the latest trends in warehouse design?
• What might the warehouses of the future look like?

Tomasz Szpyt: Good morning everyone, my name is Tomasz Szpyt. Welcome to the 7R blog podcast series. Today we are pleased to welcome Ms. Joanna Lewandowska, Head of Design and Construction at 7R. Today we’ll be discussing how to design a warehouse effectively. Where do you start? What’s important when designing a warehouse? What makes it different from designing other types of buildings? Joanna, you have experience working for a residential development company. Now you’re with a warehouse company. How does designing a warehouse differ from designing an apartment building?

Joanna Lewandowska: The process is very similar. One could say that in terms of project preparation, execution, and the completion of the investment, there are essentially no differences in the procedures. However, the product is obviously different. Therefore, all complications, threats, and risks associated with one product or another are appropriately tailored to that specific type. The residential sector is defined by the scale of its customers. There is a fundamental difference here: we are dealing, for example, with a thousand or five hundred apartments. Many families, and so on. We must deliver to all these people the apartments of their dreams—the ones they have imagined, cherished, longed for, and paid dearly for. In this case, there are usually only a few clients, or perhaps just one. I think this is the main difference. But of course the technology is also different. Any risks associated with defects are a completely different matter, but the building permit is obtained according to the same regulations and requirements. They are based on similar documents, or even the same documents as a rule. We also conduct all technical studies related to the environment. We always obtain an environmental permit and technical conditions. We have to comply with the local zoning plan—meaning the regulations. We organize a tender and select a general contractor. The entire process of construction—including implementation, state acceptance, and handover to the client or tenant.

You mentioned that there are many similarities. However, the customers are also different—you mentioned that as well. Which customer is more demanding: the residential customer, or the logistics or warehouse customer?

Everyone has their own expectations. I don’t think it’s possible to say who is more demanding. If I buy an apartment for half a million zlotys and spend my life savings on it, then I’m very demanding. But there are also people who are very trusting and have no complaints—for example, they accept the product without any issues. The tenants are institutional clients. There are different levels of costs, different levels of commitment, and different levels of demands. Sometimes there are very demanding clients during this stage of adapting their space. It’s very often the case that new ideas are introduced during the planning, execution, and construction of the project. These ideas are likely very good, important, and essential for the future tenant. However, they cannot all be implemented at once. All sorts of discussions, negotiations, and such take place, which are sometimes very laborious and time-consuming. Sometimes they are also heated. It turns out differently. At the end of the day, we always talk to people. Whether we are in the area of permitting—which means obtaining all decisions, opinions, and so on—then we talk to officials; they are people, too.  In my experience, regardless of the industry, this is currently the most difficult stage of the entire investment cycle in the property development industry: the agreement stage. This involves the project plus all the related studies, because sometimes these regulations are difficult and complicated—not even the regulations themselves, but the way they are interpreted by specific officials in different regions of the country. There are many different interpretations of this. Here, too, there is contact with the person who ultimately accepts this interpretation. That person may agree or disagree with it. The situation is similar with tenants. And it is similar in this process with our clients—specifically, the target clients who purchase investments from us, who also have their own expectations. They have their own goals to achieve. It is difficult to coordinate all these processes in such a way that, for one thing, they view this goal as a shared one. It is also often difficult to convince these people that it truly is a shared goal.

You mentioned that designing even a warehouse is no walk in the park. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. We live in an era of technological revolution that affects virtually every aspect of our lives. I think it also affects warehouses—and buildings constructed more than ten years ago are a completely different product from those built today. If you want to build more complex systems and more complex buildings, you probably also need to use slightly more advanced tools. What is the contemporary architect’s toolkit? What is used?

Indeed, you have touched on an area that is very important right now in the design process, as well as in the construction process and, later on, in the management process. Let’s look at facility management. As I said, it doesn’t matter what kind of building it is. Whether it’s residential, retail, warehouse, or office—there is a way to design it. In the past, and even quite recently, designs were mainly two-dimensional. Even today, a significant amount of design is still carried out this way. However, BIM technology—Building Information Modeling—has been in development for some time now. It is a comprehensive technology that integrates many different elements and aspects of the design process. Three-dimensional design tools have been developed for this purpose. This means that designs are created in 3D. Typically, Revit or Archicad is used. From my experience, I can see that Revit is more popular. However, quite apart from the design process itself, one could say that this BIM technology is very interesting because it creates a virtual space where all parties involved in the design process can find their key elements. You create a three-dimensional object to which you assign physical characteristics and parameters. So you can, for example, specify the thermal resistance of this object. You can specify the supplier of specific materials. You can specify other physical parameters, such as thermal insulation, and so on. What’s more—this object can be built or modeled not only in three dimensions, but also in four or five dimensions. Because to our three basic spatial dimensions, you can add the cost dimension, and you can also add the time dimension. This means that we have a certain investment in the financial dimension and the time dimension—specifically, when the project should be completed. After activating these parameters, we can see and model whether, for example, a given facility, such as a warehouse, is being implemented on time according to the assumed schedule, and which of its specific structural and construction elements are highlighted in red—that is, they should have been completed by now but have not been as of today. This is a very complex tool for managing an investment or project, which offers significant opportunities. This is the environment where all the features of this object are centralized, and the number of these features—the parameters that can be assigned—is truly not limited. Thus, everyone involved in this process can benefit from it.

As far as I understand, this technology allows you to first create a digital model of a building—before it is actually built on a specific plot of land—and to monitor the construction process. Does this technology also offer any advantages later on to tenants, the building’s eventual owners, and investors? Could you briefly explain the benefits of BIM?

There is certainly a benefit to the amount of information incorporated into this design and this technology that cannot be achieved in any way with a two-dimensional design. The benefit lies in the rapid identification of collisions—between the branches, the installation, or the installation and the structure. In fact, all collisions that are usually found in traditional design very often—if not most often—at the execution stage. This makes the project very complicated and expensive. Ultimately, of course, this system has—as I said—the ability to parameterize everything. This starts with the type of luminaires, the light sources, the type of façade, the series of types, and the different types of elements. Therefore, for example, for someone who manages this facility—this is a great convenience, because if some element of the facility’s infrastructure does not function as it should—it is very easy to determine from this model what kind of element is missing. Who was the supplier, what technical parameters does it have, where can you order it—this is a huge asset also from the perspective of managing an already operational facility.

We were saying that over the past decade, warehouses have actually evolved from simple cubes—or “boxes,” as we used to call them. Now we have highly high-tech buildings equipped with very complex systems. What do you think warehouses might look like, say… over the next decade? What innovations can we expect in the design of this type of building?

I believe that all the technical innovations and market trends—which are likely to be adopted most quickly by office developments (for various reasons)—are rooted in a philosophy of caring for the climate and the environment in the broadest sense. Undoubtedly, these trends will be the first to be adopted. They will be implemented. They will be welcomed by tenants, because such a commitment to the quality of our lives—and thus to the environment, the climate, and the future—will surely enhance prestige and awareness. This is highly valued. In this regard, we will also closely monitor developments, the actions of our competitors, and market trends—not only in Poland, but worldwide. I hope (… and I would like to be as involved as possible in this direction) that our properties will be very elegant and beautiful. I would like them to be well-liked. They are well integrated into the surrounding environment—the place where they are built. Within the surrounding community. So that they encourage tenants to settle there. This includes tenants who have their own teams, staff, and employees. We want these employees to feel valued, to enjoy these spaces, and to appreciate being there—with comfortable working conditions and elegant interiors. We want them to simply love it. Our 7R brand should be highly praised—not only by the tenants but also by the people who work there every day. They come to work in the morning and go home in the evening.

Tomasz Szpyt: Joanna, thank you very much for the interview. Today our guest was Joanna Lewandowska, Head of Design and Construction at 7R.

Joanna Lewandowska: Thank you very much for the interview.