LOGISTICS in Belgium

The real estate transactions registered in 2022 confirm the trends that have been going on for several years and were hardly affected during the Covid period. Logistics is now developing in slightly less centrally located areas and old, large buildings are either being renovated or demolished to make way for new projects. Elsewhere, the reign of high-rise buildings is beginning.

A few days before the inauguration of the highest warehouse in Belgium, Dematra's managers explained why they had invested in a 40-metre-high (automated) building: “We were told that these would be the last available square metres in the region.” The story takes place in Deinze, but is symptomatic of a strong trend.

The figures from the major brokers sharpen the analysis. On the one hand, we note a 10% decrease in newly built surfaces for 2022, while the transaction volume has increased by 29%. JLL attributes this to a lack of available land and increasingly strict permit requirements. On the other hand, the two axes where new take-up has increased the most are East and West Flanders (with the exception of the port of Ghent) and the Walloon axis, with increases of more than 50% in both cases.

West Flanders saw its figures rise thanks to the realisation of the former Lingang project in Zeebrugge and a major transaction for Bleckmann in Kruisem, while the Walloon market developed more spread out between Tournai, Namur and Liège.

Today, there are seven areas where developers of logistics projects are ready to build more than 100,000 m2 of new warehouses. At the top of the list is the Ghent part of the North Sea Port with 325,000 m2, divided between WDP, Heylen, MG Real Estate and the new Weerts Logistics Parks. In addition, there are of course the areas that the port itself has not yet given in concession.

This is followed by the West Limburg region (including Beringen and Tessenderlo) with 275,000 m2 at Weerts, LCP, Heylen and Montea, followed by Liege Airport, where – again – Weerts alone is developing 250,000 m2.

Weerts is also active in several other Walloon cities (Charleroi and La Louvière), but Hainaut also attracts Flemish investors, in Dour (Goodman, 200,000 m2) and Peruwelz (Heylen – 100,000 m2). In Flanders, the only project of this size is currently being carried out by MG in Vilvoorde (former Renault site), with a potential of 150,000 m2. Elsewhere, one will have to rely on the demolition of existing buildings or – hypothetical – new industrial estates, but there too there are more dossiers that have been put on the back burner than concrete announcements.