Industrial warehouse insights

Plain-English guides to designing, approving and building industrial warehouses in Brisbane and South East Queensland, written by Brenscot Builders and checked against the National Construction Code and Queensland legislation.

Delivery models

• Industrial warehouse builders in Brisbane: what a developer-builder actually does. What a developer-builder does that a construct-only builder doesn’t, who carries the risk, and which model suits your Brisbane warehouse project.
• Design and construct vs tender: which suits your warehouse?. Design and construct or traditional tender? How each works, who carries the design risk, and which suits a warehouse project in Brisbane and SEQ.
• Turnkey industrial development for owner-occupiers and investors. How turnkey industrial development works in South East Queensland: site, design, approvals, construction and handover with one team.
• Choosing an industrial builder: what to ask before you appoint. How to check a builder’s QBCC licence, what a fixed-price design and construct contract actually fixes, and the questions to ask before appointing.
• Buy, lease or build: choosing how to occupy a warehouse. A decision framework for a business weighing up buying an existing industrial warehouse, leasing one, or building purpose-built in SEQ.
• Speculative build or pre-commitment: how the decision gets made. How speculative industrial development and pre-commitment deals differ in risk, timing and specification, and which one a site suits.
• A builder's guide for commercial agents and brokers. What commercial agents need to know about industrial development in SEQ: what makes a site developable, the approval path, and introductions.

Approvals and programme

• How long does it take to build a warehouse in Queensland?. The stages of a Queensland warehouse project, the statutory assessment timeframes, and why operational works is the stage most often left out.
• What drives the cost of an industrial warehouse in South East Queensland?. The design and site factors that move the cost of a warehouse in Brisbane and SEQ, what a rate per m2 leaves out, and how to compare prices.
• The certification pathway for a Queensland warehouse: Forms 15 and 16, private certifiers and the fire service. How building approval works for a Queensland warehouse: private certifiers, Form 15 and Form 16, inspections and the certificate of occupancy.
• Infrastructure charges on an industrial development: how they work in Brisbane and Moreton Bay. How Queensland infrastructure charges work on an industrial development, what drives the amount, and why the figure on your notice is not what you pay.
• Industry next to housing: how Queensland regulates the interface. What happens when industrial land adjoins residential in SEQ: noise, air and amenity, the four regulatory layers, and how approvals are lost.
• Building classifications explained: Class 1 to Class 10. What the NCC building classes mean, how a classification is decided, and why Class 7b, Class 8 and Class 5 matter most on an industrial project.

Fire and the NCC

• Construction Types A, B and C: how they shape warehouse design. How NCC construction Types A, B and C are decided for a warehouse, what each requires, and why most single-storey warehouses are Type C.
• Fire walls and fire compartments in industrial warehouses. How fire walls and fire compartments work under the NCC, what triggers them in a warehouse, and how they shape the building and its units.
• Why a warehouse awning can count towards fire compartment volume. How awnings and loading canopies can count towards NCC fire compartment floor area and volume, and how to plan them to avoid a redesign.
• Fire services for warehouses: what triggers hydrants, hose reels and sprinklers. When a Queensland warehouse needs fire hydrants, hose reels, sprinklers, tanks and pumps under the NCC, what triggers each, and why to decide early.
• Racking, storage height and fire: how the fitout can change the building. How racking height and what you store change a warehouse’s fire requirements under the NCC, and why sprinklers can be triggered after handover.

Structure and envelope

• Warehouse wall systems compared: full tilt panel, dado walls and steel cladding. Tilt-panel, dado wall and full steel cladding compared for industrial buildings in SEQ: cost, durability, fire performance and when each suits.
• Industrial shed or engineered warehouse: what actually separates them. Why a kit shed and a commercial warehouse are different buildings under the NCC, and what that means for classification, design and approval.

Site and civil

• Footings and foundations for warehouses in South East Queensland. Geotechnical investigation, footing options and industrial slab design for warehouses in South East Queensland, and what drives the cost.
• Retaining walls for warehouses: types, advantages and disadvantages. Retaining wall types for industrial sites in SEQ compared: sleeper, block, reinforced concrete and boulder, plus when a wall needs approval.
• Hardstand for warehouses: concrete vs asphalt vs road base. Concrete, asphalt and unsealed hardstand compared for industrial yards in SEQ: design life, truck loading, drainage and whole-of-life cost.
• Stormwater management for SEQ warehouses: GPTs, filtration, detention and why they're required. Why SEQ warehouses need stormwater treatment and detention, which devices are used, and why the civil design has to be settled early.
• Power supply for a new warehouse: the Energex connection, start to finish. How electricity supply works for a new SEQ warehouse: basic vs negotiated connections, three-phase, padmount substations and capital contributions.

Design for operations

• Clear height, door sizes and truck access: B-doubles vs rigid trucks. How to set warehouse clear height, roller door sizes and truck access for rigid trucks, semi-trailers and B-doubles on industrial sites in SEQ.
• What occupiers actually look for in a warehouse. The building features occupiers actually assess when choosing an industrial warehouse in SEQ, and what they mean for the owner setting the spec.
• The office inside a warehouse: how it changes the building. Designing a warehouse office under the NCC: the minor-use concession, mezzanines, amenities, and when Section J starts applying to the building.
• Parking, access and amenities: the parts of a warehouse people under-budget. Car parking, accessible parking, truck access and amenities for an SEQ warehouse: what the planning scheme sets and what the NCC sets.
• The 200 m2 mezzanine rule, and what access is required if you exceed it. Why warehouse offices and mezzanines are kept under 200 m2, the one-third catch most people miss, and what access is required if you go over.

Building performance

• Insulation, condensation and energy efficiency for warehouses in South East Queensland. How NCC Section J applies to warehouses and their offices in South East Queensland, why metal roofs drip, and how to insulate properly.
• Solar on warehouse roofs: what it means for new and existing sheds. Putting solar on a warehouse roof, on a new build or an existing one: structure, approvals, network connection and what the NCC now requires.

Upgrades

• Asbestos and hazardous materials in industrial upgrades and make-goods. What Queensland law requires before you renovate or strip out an older industrial building: asbestos registers, surveys, removal and clearance.

Titling and ownership

• Plan sealing and title registration for multi-unit industrial developments in Queensland. How multi-unit industrial developments are titled in Queensland: community titles schemes, plan formats, plan sealing and registration.
• Storage and trade units in South East Queensland: what they are, typical uses, and buying vs renting. What small industrial storage and trade units are, what they can lawfully be used for in SEQ, and the real costs of buying compared with renting.
• Warehouse outgoings and running costs: what an owner actually pays. What it costs to hold an industrial warehouse in SEQ, which outgoings a tenant can be asked to pay, and the design decisions that set them.

Buying land

• Buying industrial land in South East Queensland: the due diligence checklist. What to check before buying industrial land in SEQ: contamination registers, planning certificates, easements, flooding, services and truck access.

Precinct guides

• Brendale: a builder's guide to North Brisbane's industrial heartland. A builder’s guide to Brendale, one of North Brisbane’s largest industrial precincts: location, zoning, land supply and what to check first.
• Narangba: a builder's guide to Moreton Bay's hard-to-locate industry precinct. A builder’s guide to the Narangba industrial precinct: what it caters for, the temporary planning instrument in force, and how buffers work.
• Caboolture and the northern corridor: a builder's guide to the industrial land. A builder’s guide to industrial land at Caboolture, the aerodrome surrounds, Elimbah, Caboolture West and Wamuran, and which can actually be built on.