The Next Generation of Mixed-Use Developments Will Include Industrial Space. **Rational** (Part 1 of 3)

Urban developments for a long time have integrated retail, office and residential, but, are we poised to see a fourth or fifth use to be integrated? The reason, Cost, the cost of construction, the cost of transportation, the cost of operations, and the cost of energy. If we can integrate theses additional uses we can reduce the construction and operational costs and make these projects more profitable and attractive to tenants.

In this 3 part series I will break down the rationale (Part 1), the new archetype form (Part 2), and the ongoing operation cost savings for this new typology of a building (Part 3).

The design of a mixed-use development is one of the most challenging tasks, I would liken it to the typical a courthouse where you have the public, judges and prisoners all needing separate requirements, circulation among other challenges. In a 4 or 5 type mixed-use development you will need to consider the different space requirements, energy loads, quality of space, and most importantly circulation and access. The biggest question and challenge is can the addition of industrial space in a mixed-use development be cheaper in rental than suburban facilities?

What are the potential 4th use tenants who would want a 60,000 SF floor plate and potentially multiple floors?

The standard Light Industrial uses are; Distribution Companies (like Amazon), Data Centres, Urban Agriculture, and Light Manufacturing Assembly. All of these types of operations have different peak operation times and thus would have different demands on the building's systems and energy.

If you were to average out all of these programmatic uses and overlayed the typical demands of Residential, Retail and Office uses you can clearly see that there is a high operational intensity that occurs from 7 AM and 6 PM.

As a result of this quick review, we can see that there will be a demand for all the vertical circulation systems, energy, parking, and loading dock facilities. This is important to note and to make sure that there is enough capacity to manage it.

Let's Get Creative

What if there is a way to adjust the time of day when the new light industrial tenants would be utilizing the elevators, electricity and loading dock facilities?

It would look like this.

Now we are starting to get a Use Intensity where we are reducing the demand for the building's services and we can start to investigate what type of energy cost savings is available (Part 3).

Next Step

For the next step, we need to see what is the architectural form that would be best to integrate these programmatic uses without causing a systemic problem.

Are you ready for Part 2 and Part 3? Click on the links to check them out.

Have any thoughts? Share them below, and as always please share this article to help others learn. And don't forget to check out my other articles.

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