Goodman boosts its portfolio with new $100m green star-rated park
Goodman has completed its high-specification sustainable warehouse facility, Eumemmerring Business Park in Dandenong South, Melbourne Photo: supplied

Goodman boosts its portfolio with new $100m green star-rated park

Industrial property giant Goodman has bumped up its green credentials another notch with its new Eumemmerring Business Park in Melbourne’s south-east, which is one of the first industrial buildings to be registered under the new Green Star Buildings rating tool.

Eumemmerring Business Park in Dandenong South, with an end value exceeding $100 million, was acquired in December 2019 and is a former electrical parts site built in the 1970s. Goodman said the estate will showcase its latest sustainable design features.

Goodman has completed its high-specification sustainable warehouse facility, Eumemmerring Business Park in Dandenong South.
Goodman has completed its high-specification sustainable warehouse facility, Eumemmerring Business Park in Dandenong South. Photo: supplied

Goodman has also incorporated artwork from the Bunurong people of the south-eastern Kulin nation.

Green ratings have been rare for industrial property given the size of the assets and the amount of power, water and materials needed to build and then keep them operating.

Jason Little, chief executive Australia at Goodman Group, said as part of its sustainability focus the park’s design is centred on retaining two office pods of 1000 square metres at the front of the site and repurposing them as a single 2500 square metre office building with a cafe and an aerobridge connecting to the warehouse operations.

Master planning the estate also included retaining 10 significant 100-plus year old native Eucalyptus trees. There was also repatriation of artefacts found on the site, as well as a 10-metre-high First Nations mural created by local Bunurong artist Adam Magennis.

Little added that at the master planning stage, the group felt “strongly about retaining whatever buildings it could, and preserving the 100-year-old Eucalyptus trees”.

“This approach enables us to recycle and reuse finite materials, reducing waste to landfill and upfront embodied carbon during construction,” Little said.

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The estate sits on 6.5 hectares and is designed to be energy efficient, highly functional, and with resilience in mind, “over and above the standard industry offering”.

“More than 98 per cent of the demolition waste was diverted from landfill, a 999kW solar array and electric vehicle charging have been installed, and upfront carbon emissions have been reduced by over 10 per cent through low carbon material selection,” Little said.

The estate also focuses on the health and wellness of customers across the warehouse and office space with light-filled spaces, increased fresh airflow, acoustic comfort considerations, outdoor eating areas with access to green spaces, and end-of-trip facilities.

The estate is 100 per cent leased with tenants including Zipform Packaging, WAM Australia, Natec Network and PC Case Gear.

Goodman is releasing its full-year results on Thursday, August 17 with analysts at Barrenjoey looking for the ASX-listed $37.97 billion industrial group to exceed earnings guidance of 15 per cent growth for the 2023 year anda guide to 10 per cent growth for the current 2024 year.

Frasers Property Industrial has signed a 10-year lease to Penguin Random House on a 38,225 square metre facility at its Rubix Connect estate, also in Dandenong South.

The lease at the 41.3-hectare estate is designed to double the capacity of the company’s operations and distribution of books, the facility will incorporate state-of-the-art automation. The deal was brokered by David Black from Salinger DC&W.

Renders of the Frasers Property Industrial new book distribution facility at their Rubix Connect facility in Dandenong, leased to Penguin Random
Renders of the Frasers Property Industrial new book distribution facility at their Rubix Connect facility in Dandenong, leased to Penguin Random Photo: supplied

The deals come as the national average vacancy rate in Australia’s industrial & logistics market continues to be the lowest level globally, with little sign of any “hidden” vacancy despite the current economic headwinds.

Knight Frank’s Australian Industrial Review for the three months to the end of June found vacancy was sitting at 526,806 square metres across the eastern seaboard cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, which was 36 per cent below the same time last year.

However, available space increased by 19.5 per cent in the second quarter with an uptick in Melbourne and Brisbane, while Sydney tightened further.

Knight Frank partner research & consulting Jennelle Wilson said increases in industrial vacancy over the second quarter of this year were largely due to new speculative constructions.

“Available speculative space now accounts for 48 per cent of total east coast vacancy, with 42 per cent of this still under construction and unavailable for immediate occupation,” Wilson said.

Sydney’s vacancy fell by 27 per cent to 32,175 square metres, while Brisbane’s availability increased by 15 per cent to 261,166 square metres and Melbourne’s vacancy increased by 37 per cent to 233,465 square metres with this city now accounting for 44 per cent of total east coast vacancy.

Knight Frank national head of industrial logistics James Templeton said the relatively low volume of leasing deals over Q2 indicated tenants were taking a more critical look at their rental impost, with rising outgoings also pushing up total occupancy costs.

“However, sustained demand for new space and ongoing tight supply will continue to put upward pressure on rents, albeit at a slower pace,” Templeton said.