A new report from the Property Council of Australia shows industrial developers are lifting their game, reimagining warehouses and business parks with the kinds of amenities once associated with corporate towers.
Property Council NSW Executive Director Anita Hugo said the shift reflects the growing importance of industrial jobs to the city's day-to-day functioning, and the need to lift the baseline for worker experience.
"These are the kind of precincts that keep the nation moving. If you want people to join the industrial sector and stay, the workplace has to offer more," Ms Hugo said.
The report, The Social Benefits of Innovative Design in the Industrial & Logistics Sector, highlights a growing focus on "socially beneficial design" – including better food and break spaces, end-of-trip facilities, fitness and wellness, allied health and everyday services that make shift work better.
Key findings from the report include:
- Industrial and logistics precincts are increasingly being designed as employment destinations, not just operational sites.
- Amenity is shifting from "nice-to-have" to a workforce tool, aimed at attraction, retention and day-to-day productivity.
- The amenity mix is beyond broadening food offerings to include wellness and allied health services, end-of-trip facilities, and services that support working families.
- Placemaking and community connection are becoming part of design, with industrial precincts more likely to include shared spaces and features that improve the experience of being on site.
- The report calls for clearer definitions and better measurement of "socially beneficial design" so social and economic outcomes can be assessed consistently.
- Planning and approvals need to better accommodate complementary uses in employment lands, without compromising the core freight and jobs function of industrial precincts.
Craig Jones, MSS Group Chief Commercial Officer and Chair of the Property Council NSW's Industrial & Logistics Committee, which led the development of the report, said the uplift was all about productivity and participation.
"Reducing everyday obstacles for workers – safety, amenities and services that save time – strengthens wellbeing and retention, delivering a more reliable workforce," he said.
"The same placemaking principles applied to residential master planned communities should extend to industrial and logistics precincts, where environment quality directly influences labour attraction and staff stability."
The Property Council said planning frameworks need to keep pace with the way industrial precincts are evolving, so complementary uses can be delivered without undermining the core function of employment land.
"We need industrial land protected for jobs but that shouldn't mean precincts stay stuck in the past. Good amenity is becoming part of industrial competitiveness," Mr Jones said.
The report identifies a series of industry recommendations to strengthen collaboration between developers, businesses and policymakers, including:
- Establishing a shared definition of socially beneficial design to guide future development
- Undertaking further empirical research to measure social and economic returns.
- Embedding social value outcomes within NSW's planning and approval frameworks.
- Strengthening collaboration between developers, occupiers, service providers and government to plan precinct-level amenities.
- Treating industrial precincts as modern employment centres in policy and precinct planning, not "warehouses only".
"This is the next frontier of workforce and precinct planning," Mr Jones said.
"Government policy and planning frameworks need to catch up to what the market and community are already asking for - more inclusive, better-connected, and more liveable employment lands."
