Industrial land
We can classify land for industrial use as those areas of the municipality in which industrial estates, factories, business parks and, in general, land for industrial use or secondary sector are located.
Why invest
in industrial land?
Spain is one of the leading countries in terms of investment in the industrial and logistics sector. In Europe, only Paris is in the lead. This is how the data is shown in a report carried out by CBRE, the world’s largest real estate management group.
28% of those interviewed by CBRE say that their investment in the sector is due to a strategy of diversification. 38% invest because of high profitability.
Purchases of residential and commercial property are declining, as is hotel land. On the other hand, the retail and e-commerce sector is increasing, with its search for space for storage, logistics and distribution. These brands need new spaces to create value and experiences for an increasingly disloyal customer, but on the other hand, they also need industrial warehouses with greater capacity to meet the demand for products that must be delivered on time, which also requires digitising the warehouses and the processes involved.
This is a sector in constant growth, increasing at a rate of 3% per year, mainly due to the limited stock of assets and growing competition. Accelerating investment in industrial land attracted 38% of investors in 2017, rising to 50% in 2018.
Behind Paris and Madrid are Amsterdam and Frankfurt, both of which are taking advantage of this position due to Brexit – the UK’s exit from the European Union. Following them is London, which has dropped in the ranking of attractive cities to invest in land and industrial buildings due to this factor.
For more information about investing in the industrial sector (warehouses, land, premises, etc.), do not hesitate to look at the available properties for sale or contact us.
The requalification of rustic land into urban or industrial land by public or private administrations requires prior environmental studies in most cases.
Local councils, when drawing up their general urban plans, must decide how much land they want to change the use and location of the land from among various alternatives. The development of urban centers must be conditioned by environmental parameters in order to avoid subsequent problems that are difficult to solve.
On the other hand, individuals wishing to submit land rezoning applications to the administration are often confronted with groups opposed to land use change. Assuming, from the outset, the environmental repercussions of the transformation and presenting them to the administration and the public in an objective and scientific manner makes it possible to establish measurable parameters of the real repercussions that the transformation will have; establishing rational criteria in the defence of their interests and avoiding arbitrary confrontations in many cases.
Environmental studies are necessary because they allow optimal choices to be made regarding the location and size of land use transformations. Aspects such as the consumption of resources, energy and raw materials in the future by the population or industry, environmental impacts due to the operation and repercussions on singular elements of nature or the cultural and archaeological heritage are clearly exposed and mechanisms can be articulated from the outset that minimise the damage to nature and make possible, from an exclusively environmental point of view, the new urbanisation processes. In this first stage of urban development, it is possible to anticipate problems derived from water and electricity supplies or waste generation. The correct requalification of land makes it possible to minimise the future layout of infrastructures and to anticipate the economic dimension of the preventive or corrective environmental measures necessary to comply with current legislation on issues such as waste water discharges or noise.
Taking into account the future activity to be developed on the land, especially in the case of activities that require an Environmental Impact Assessment, also makes it possible to anticipate environmental problems due to the future operation of the facilities, to foresee the most appropriate location and to plan in advance the location of green areas or access roads.
The proximity of natural areas, the inclusion of municipalities in the Natura 2000 Network, the presence of singular buildings (hermitages, monuments, bridges or archaeological remains), or natural elements to be protected (hundred-year-old trees, watercourses or small ecosystems) often limit land requalification or impose severe conditions on it.
Changes in land use must be subject to the procedure of Law 9/2006, of 28 April, on the evaluation of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (an environmental sustainability report is required) or the regional laws on environmental evaluation (an environmental impact study is required) in the case of requalifications for projects that occupy smaller areas.
It is necessary to take all these aspects into account in order to respect the environment and the growing sensitivity of the population and the different administrations on this issue.
From industrial building to housing
How to convert an industrial building into a comfortable and functional home? Giving a new function to this type of space is not a new idea: in fact, its origins go back to New York in the 1950s. During the post-war period, given the difficult access to housing, some artists and young students moved into abandoned factories in the SoHo, TriBeCa or West Side areas, and rethought and renovated them to make them a habitable and welcoming space. Before long, this practice had become professionalised and fashionable among New Yorkers, giving rise to the concept of the loft.
What at that time arose as a necessity, today is a rising trend and a safe bet for lovers of open-plan homes, high ceilings, exposed structures and, in short, industrial style. However, before undertaking a renovation of this type, there are some aspects to consider:
First steps
Is residential use permitted on the land where the warehouse is located?
Is it considered urban land, and therefore habitable, or industrial land, and therefore not suitable for habitation?
Can I start the renovation first and deal with the formalities later?
- The first thing to find out is whether the area is habitable. In order to do this, it is necessary to consult the local town hall, who must confirm, according to the General Plan of the municipality in question, keys such as the type of land, its habitability and whether it is possible to make a change of use and subsequent renovation. If the industrial building has been absorbed by urban land or the land has been reclassified as residential, the possibilities of successfully carrying out a transformation of this type are greater.
- Once the local council has confirmed that residential use of the industrial building in question is permitted, a technical project for the change of use from industrial building to residential use must be drawn up and signed by an architect.
- This is nothing more than a functional document that must be presented again to the town council and which includes key elements such as descriptive and constructive reports, annexes, plans, feasibility studies and budgets. This document must comply with both urban planning and construction regulations for a new home.
- The local council will be in charge of studying this technical document and, finally, granting the building permit, if applicable. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that the licence is always prior and the reform should not be started before obtaining it if administrative sanctions are to be avoided.
- Now, with all this documentation duly formalized, you can proceed with the renovation. Once completed, the owner must register the new home with the notary.
The certificate of occupancy
A priori, even if the land on which it is built has been reclassified as urban, not all industrial premises can be converted into dwellings if the appropriate modifications are not made. In many cases, their morphology, the existence of unevenness, the dimensions of the spaces, poor lighting or poor ventilation, to give a few examples, are incompatible with the minimum requirements for habitability. In some of these cases, it is necessary to undertake a profound transformation and, on some occasions, it is simply not feasible.
In order for an industrial building to obtain a certificate of habitability, it must first be legally registered as a dwelling. Secondly, the architectural feasibility study must be presented, almost always as part of the change of use project, which certifies that the proposal complies with the regional habitability regulations.
In order for an industrial building to obtain a certificate of habitability, it must first be legally registered as a dwelling. Secondly, the architectural feasibility study must be presented, almost always as part of the change of use project, which certifies that the proposal complies with the regional habitability regulations.
Can you leave in
industrial land?
The purchase of a loft built on industrial land, but the whole building is designed as housing. That is to say, it is not an office that is being refurbished, but lofts have been built directly on industrial land. What disadvantages can I have when buying it, and in a future sale, and are there any possible tax reliefs?
The first thing to check is whether the area is habitable. To do this, it is necessary to consult the local town hall to confirm, according to the general plan of the municipality in question, keys such as the type of land, its habitability and whether it is possible to make a change of use and subsequent reform.
If the industrial building has been absorbed by urban land or the land has been reclassified as residential, the possibilities for a successful conversion of this type are increased.
In principle, the construction of housing on industrial land is prohibited. Once the municipality has confirmed that residential use of the industrial building in question is permitted, a technical project for the change of use from industrial to residential must be drawn up and signed by an architect.
The local council will be in charge of studying this technical document and, finally, granting the building permit, if applicable. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that the licence is always prior and the reform should not be started before obtaining it if administrative sanctions are to be avoided.
Now, with all this documentation duly formalized, you can proceed with the renovation. Once completed, the owner must register the new home with the notary.
For a property to be habitable and for a future sale to be possible, it must have the current certificate of habitability, which is a certificate issued by the town hall of each municipality where it is validated that there are minimum general conditions of habitability on the necessary dependencies, such as the minimum dimensions of the different rooms, height of the property, ventilation systems or smoke extraction, as well as the specific conditions of each municipality, which is responsible for this matter.
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