With the hand of the pandemic still bearing down hard on global economies, the outlook for most sectors of the real estate market both here and abroad remains cloudy. For manufacturers and retailers, both users of industrial and warehousing space, there are emerging views proffered by thought leaders as to how they may reorganize themselves post COVID-19.From these, we have identified the first tranche of winners in the industrial and logistics markets: 

1. Vertical farming and agrotechnology;
2. Cold chain storage;
3. BCP centres;
4. Data centres;
5. Sustainable industrial and logistics facilities;
6. Industry 5.0
7. Tech incubator/research facilities

Vertical farming and agrotechnology
Vertical farming is the process of growing crops in a controlled environment by vertically stacking the substrate. It is often soilless farming which uses hydrophobics, aquaponics and aeroponics to optimize plant growth. While the start-up costs are high for this type of farming, and there are problems of high energy usage and pollution (not effluent discharge but a high carbon footprint arising from high energy inputs), the need to have greater food self-sufficiency may push this industry forward. Singapore’s 30 by 30 food production target is the main driver for this industry to grow. By 2030, Singapore aims to be producing 30% of its nutritional intake domestically.