DSV A/S : Twice as many properties

The acquisition of UTi included 550 additional properties, which have been evaluated by DSV Property's ten employees since January. The task involves joining forces with the local management to draw an ideal road map, i.e. decide which properties should serve as warehouses, terminals and offices for the more than 40,000 employees worldwide.

The new properties from UTi range from large warehouses to small offices. The properties typically have very short leases, five years at most, or the premises are adapted to the customer agreement for the warehouse, for instance.

'We have already eliminated some of the properties if they are not part of our future strategy. Others are closed down as the lease expires or the agreements cease. Instead, we are moving into ultra-modern efficient new buildings that consider the needs of employees, customers and the infrastructure,' says Brian Winther Almind, Director, Group Property, highlighting the advantages of the strategy: bigger modern entities make it possible to cut operating costs, and also pave the way for combining all three divisions under one roof.

he says.

First Europe, then the rest of the world

In addition to the ten employees in Group Property, the department employs up to 30-40 external staff (architects, engineers and construction consultants), including 3-5 architects from the AK83 architectural firm, whose sole task is to design buildings for DSV. At present, 18 building projects are in process and more are on the drawing board.

After primarily working their way through DSV's European properties (and since January also UTi's European properties) for the past three years and drafting road maps for DSV's warehouses, terminals and offices, Group Property now has overseas targets in sight. Most UTi properties are located in North and South America and South Africa, which will be the first to have new road maps drawn up. The Asian properties will be processed in the second wave.

'We will concentrate our efforts where the sense of urgency is greatest,' Brian says, having just hired a senior project manager in New Jersey to lead the US consolidation process, which primarily affects Solutions.

A typical DSV interior - easily recognizable all over the world

Best practice

'Everything is being built according to templates and best practice. The buildings work the same way and have identical facades, furnishing and architectural solutions. Eventually, no matter where you are in the world, you will feel at home in a DSV property, regardless of whether it is an office or a warehouse. The design is striking, bright and inviting, and it is DSV's,' he says.

DSV can save a lot of money by consolidating the large number of small offices and warehouses that are often out-of-date and disproportionately expensive to manage, exemplified by security measures such as CCTV, security guards, etc. At the same time, there are obvious benefits from gathering the business in modern new buildings.

Attracting new customers

'We are finding that we can land new customers based on our architectural design: they can see themselves in our new efficient settings. In some cases, we construct dedicated buildings based directly on a customer's order, but normally our strategy is to build multi-user sites where customers share the facilities,' he says.

Facades, layout and architectural solutions are the same for all of DSV's new properties.

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