7R Glossary
High-bay warehouse
What should you know?
While traditional Class A warehouse facilities offer a clear-span height of 10–12 meters, high-bay facilities extend much higher vertically. This solution is primarily used in locations where investment land prices are very high or the lot size is too small to accommodate a traditional, expansive single-story warehouse (Big Box).
The structure of such a warehouse can be traditional (a reinforced concrete or steel structure with racking installed inside) or self-supporting (a so-called silo warehouse). In self-supporting warehouses, the racking also serves as the load-bearing structure for the entire building, to which the wall and roof cladding are directly attached.
High-Bay Warehousing in Practice: 7R
At 7R, we build high-bay warehouses as part of custom-designed projects— Built-to-Suit (BTS)Built-to-Suit (BTS)Built-to-Suit (BTS) is a model for commercial real estate development—most often warehouse or industrial—designed and built from the ground up to meet the specific, individual requirements of a particular tenant. Unlike off-the-shelf speculative space, a BTS facility is built to order, taking into account the tenant’s unique technological processes, layout requirements, and technical specifications.Read the full definition →. We adapt the foundation geometry and floor load-bearingcapacity. Floor load-bearing capacity is a parameter that defines the maximum static and dynamic loads that an industrial floor can safely support without the risk of cracking, deformation, or ground settlement. It is most commonly expressed in metric tons per square meter (t/m²) or in kilonewtons per rack leg support point (kN/foot).Read the full definition → and the vertical structural grid for specifications from suppliers of automated storage systems and rack stacker cranes. By using BIM modeling, we guarantee millimeter-level precision in construction, which is essential for the trouble-free operation of robots and automation systems in warehouses over a dozen meters high.
A high-bay warehouse versus a standard Class A facility
| Criterion | High-Bay Warehouse | Standard warehouse |
|---|---|---|
| Clear height (clearheight) Storage height (clear height)Storage height (clear height) is the maximum usable vertical space inside a warehouse, measured from the finished floor to the lowest-hanging element of the roof structure or installations (e.g., sprinklers, joists, lighting). It determines the facility’s actual pallet capacity without the need to increase its floor area.Read the full definition →) | From 14 m to over 40 m | Usually 10 m – 12 m |
| Shelf Maintenance | Automated Pallet Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) | Front-loading forklifts, reach trucks, or VNA forklifts |
| Land Footprint | Very low (maximum use of volume) | High (extensive built-up area) |
| Floor Requirements | Strict floor flatness standards (DIN/VDMA) | Standard load-bearing capacity: 5–7 metric tons per square meter |
Frequently Asked Questions
At storage heights of 15–30 meters, even a fraction of a millimeter of unevenness in the floor can cause the mast of a forklift or stacker to tilt by several centimeters at the highest level. This can result in a pallet becoming jammed in a rack bay or the load tipping over. For this reason, high-bay warehouses use seamless floors that meet stringent flatness classes in accordance with VDMA standards.
High-bay warehouses are popular in the food and frozen food industries (high volume means less cold loss per pallet), in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and among large FMCG and e-commerce manufacturers with repeatable, standardized load units.