Record-low vacancy, post-pandemic economics, and demand for sustainable technological development have sent Australian warehouse real estate into a period of flux. All these factors have created the perfect environment for manufacturers to optimise their operations and set themselves for long periods of growth.
To support these endeavours, Combilift has developed its own capabilities in warehouse design and forklift technology. With an Australian presence borne from decades of honest, Irish manufacturing, Combilift is well placed to understand and complement the needs of Australian warehouse operators. In 2024, those needs lie in increasingly modern facilities that enable sustainable, automated, and efficient production. However, as vacancy levels around the country return from record-lows of around one per cent[i] – some of the lowest globally – there is little room for burgeoning manufacturers to move. This is leading many to consider a complete demolition and rebuild of their facilities, according to JLL Australia[ii] head of supply chain, Richard Phillips.
“You can’t even put some of the simplest automation into older warehouses because the infrastructure doesn’t enable their deployment,” he says. “So, you’ve got buildings that are 35-plus years coming up for refurbishment anyway, plus the appeal of automation and increased cubic capacity all driving owners and developers to look at the viability of knock down and rebuild.”
This is where Combilift comes into play. On top of delivering innovative, multi-directional forklift technology, Combilift has put its decades of experience to good use, offering a free warehouse planning service[iii] to maximise floorplan efficiency. Clients of this service have been known to double their storage capacity using Combilift’s warehouse design, coupled with its forklifts for narrow and very narrow aisles. By reducing said aisle widths, warehouse owners can fit more aisles into the same space – all while incorporating their chosen tech.
Combilift CEO, Martin McVicar, often emphasises his belief that the floorplan should always come first. “We have a saying we’ve been using for the last number of years – ‘it’s more important that the customers should optimise what they’re doing before they invest in automation’,” he says. “That’s why we have a team of engineers who offer free warehouse design, and that really has enabled a lot of our customers to maximise their cubic footprint.”
Supply, demand & investment
As consumer demand and online shopping soared during the pandemic, manufacturers struggled with a severe lack of warehouse space to cope with the influx. This inspired a raft of investment in new construction and demand for warehousing, much of which is due to be complete in 2024.
JLL reported[iv] that Sydney’s Outer Central West has 278,000 sqm of warehousing under construction, while Melbourne’s west has 432,000 sqm and Brisbane’s south is expecting 309,000 sqm of industrial warehousing. Much of this demand has come from the Transport, Postal and Warehousing (TP&W) sector (51%), followed by manufacturing (20%). And that demand is strong financially. A Savills report
from April 2024, titled ‘Is Manufacturing Making a Comeback?’ found that AU$33.3 billion had been invested in warehouse properties since 2019. The report suggested that such interest had been fuelled by suggestions of greater onshore manufacturing and the security of Australian supply chains – far removed from the geopolitical turmoil of Europe and Asia. This has led industrial and logistics sectors to overtake residential real estate as the preferred area for investment in Australia.
Navigating the modern warehouse
All this talk of investment, new warehouses, and onshore manufacturing implies the need for the machinery and equipment to keep it all running. Having navigated Ireland’s economic booms and busts in the 1990s and 2000s, Combilift has the experience to capitalise on Australia’s own era of homegrown manufacturing. This led to innovations like the Aisle Master[vi], a versatile articulated forklift which changed the game for forklift drivers globally. The product’s clever design complements a well-designed warehouse and allows operators to navigate increasingly narrow aisles of just 1.6 metres wide. Similarly, Combilift’s Pedestrian stacker range enables significant improvements to warehouse capacity, while improving safety for even beginner operators. Combilift Australia country manager, Chris Littlewood, says the range achieves Combilift’s main goals of boosting efficiency, safety, and productivity. “The forward visibility of the Pedestrian reach vehicles greatly reduces the risk of incident in tight confines and ensures the vehicle is stress-free to operate,” he says. “The operator’s position allows a greater level of control over the products when moving them around, with up to four-way reach in even the narrowest aisles.” So, no matter how old, new, wide or narrow a warehouse is, Combilift has the solutions to uplift the changing landscape of industrial real estate. As a humble manufacturer, Combilift can’t claim to have all the latest warehousing forecasts, just that it has the solutions for customer pain points as their needs arise.
Property Council of Australia, ‘Industrial property’s $1.2 trillion economic impact revealed in new report,’ 2024
JLL, ‘Why knocking down warehouses is on the rise,’ 2023
Combilift, ‘FREE Warehouse Planning with Combilift,’
JLL, ‘Demand dynamics have shifted for Australian industrial,’ 2024
Savills, ‘Warehousing Sees $33.3 Billion Investment As Green Transition Drives Industrial Values, Says Savills Report,’ 2024
Combilift, ‘The Versatile Articulated Forklift’
Combilift, Pedestrian Stackers
