Innovative Logistics (Part 1): Why Invest in Sustainable Energy?

George Hickman
Within the logistics sector we are very focused on sustainable power and its cost. That leads us into PV solar panels and other technologies, but we also need to consider what we’re using them for. There's a move towards electric vehicles. Not just cars, but also vans and in due course HGVs.

Working with our occupiers, their big costs are transport and power, so renewable energy sources really feed in and make a difference for them. For us, the next step is how far you go, within the London Plans and building regulations, there are guidelines.

We try and go beyond that. In PR1 (LINK) our first development in Park Royal, we're providing 100% electric vehicle charging for cars and vans. We're doing maximum PV coverage on the roof. We're also putting in batteries so that we can make full use of the power that we generate on site.

Luke Le Brun
What's going to be really interesting is how the PVs and the batteries together can start to genuinely save occupiers’ operational cost. We've done a lot of work around costing that out, and we think it's around £1.50 a square foot at the moment, but that will only be truly tested once our buildings are up and running. And that could be really important for our occupiers and how they run their buildings.

George Hickman
In Park Royal, there are lots of food manufacturers, so in these buildings they have quite significant power needs. So, being able to use the battery storage makes a lot of sense for them, they're a 24-hour operation. I believe you'll see more and more batteries coming into buildings.

Luke Le Brun
It's relatively rare for logistics buildings to be offered with batteries as part of the base build specification, and that is what we are doing. The industry and tenants are getting used to using batteries to control their energy costs. We have to work with them as we grow our platform to work out what is the right thing to do. How many batteries to install and of what specification, when we develop a building. Or, whether it's something that we leave the space for within the building on the plant deck, and allow our tenants to install batteries as they need it and as they develop. It's something that we are trying to innovate on and roll out, but it's going to change as we work with our tenants through the life of the platform.

George Hickman
We've been early instigators in this space. I'm aware that others are now looking at it, which is great as this has to be collaborative. The whole point of this is to try and reduce carbon, this is in everybody's benefit. That's the nice thing about our industry, there is quite a collaborative approach and people do share information, I hope more and more people do follow our lead.

You can listen to the full podcast here. This podcast is produced by OG Podcasts. Find out more at ogpodcasts.co.uk.

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