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01 The standard

The quality bar we build and operate to.

Every clause keeps its number for good, so a quotation still points at the thing it quoted.

Test a site against Part 1 Bring us a site

Clear height

21 m

under haunch where VNA is specified

Slab

Superflat

defined movement in the VNA aisles

Zones

All three

free zone, mainland, port estate

02 Part 1 · Project criteria

What a site has to be before we build on it.

Part 1 — the seven criteria a site meets before we develop it.
Clause Parameter What we require
1.01 Coverage and phasing Building, yard and apron fit on the plot with land left for a second phase.
1.02 Plot area 20,000–50,000 m² (215,000–540,000 sq ft) of land. This is the plot we develop on, not the building that stands on it.
1.05 Tenure Freehold, or a lease long enough to amortise the building, on lendable title.
1.06 Zone Free zone, mainland or port estate. The zone decides where duty falls due.
1.08 Clear height 18 m minimum under haunch, 21 m where VNA is specified, inside the plot’s planning limit.
1.09 Slab capacity Rated for the racking’s uniformly distributed load, with baseplate point loads specified separately.
1.11 Services at the boundary Supply and substation space for temperature control and an electric fleet, plus fire water storage.

The first plot taken through Part 1 is in JAFZA, and the building going up on it is 144,000 sq ft: 21 m clear for VNA racking, bonded, ready March 2027.

Clause 1.06 — the zone changes the duty, not the building.

Clause 1.06 — where duty falls due in each zone.
Zone Duty
Free zone Suspended inside the perimeter. A re-export leaves still suspended; a mainland sale is an import.
Mainland Cleared on arrival and held duty-paid, so distribution is a delivery, not a clearance.
Port estate Suspended inside the port’s customs boundary, with quay and shed inside it.

Part 1, as a tool you can run yourself.

The test reads a plot against the Part 1 clauses above. It needs JavaScript.

Every field is optional, and the ledger fills as you type in your own browser.

sq ft
sq ft
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kN/m²
kVA

Ledger

Your site tested against Part 1, clause by clause
CriterionClauseResultReading

03 Part 2 · Construction

A Grade A unit, and the pallet positions inside it.

The second drawing fills a wide-aisle shed and a very narrow aisle high bay on one footprint.

A Grade A warehouse unit drawn as a wireframe volume, with its clear height dimensioned at 21 metres An isometric line drawing of a single Grade A unit: a floor slab with construction joints, a run of portal frames at eight metre centres, side rails and gable posts, and three runs of high bay racking rising in tiers above floor level, loaded with pallets. A dimension line at the near corner measures the clear height from slab to haunch, 21 metres, or 69 feet. 21 m (69 ft)
The Grade A volume: 21 m (69 ft) clear under the haunch, where very narrow aisle racking is specified.
The same floor area with wide aisles, and with very narrow aisles An isometric drawing of two open warehouse envelopes standing on one ground plane, covering the same floor area. The left volume is the conventional case: aisles about 3.8 metres wide, because a counterbalance truck has to turn inside them, so four back-to-back rack blocks — eight runs — fill the depth and the racking stops at a conventional clear height. The right volume is the very narrow aisle case: aisles about 1.7 metres, less than half as wide, because the truck does not turn, so six blocks — twelve runs — fill the same depth, and the racking carries on up to 21 metres clear, its upper tiers drawn slightly brighter. Both floors are filled to within a fraction of a metre of the front cross aisle. Beside each volume the rack runs and aisles are repeated flat on the floor, with the front aisle dimensioned, so the two aisle widths can be compared directly. The figures are given as text beneath the drawing.

Conventional wide aisle

3.8 m aisle · conventional clear height

A counterbalance truck turns inside the aisle, so the aisle has to be wide enough to turn in. Block plus aisle is a 6.2 m pitch: four blocks — eight runs — fill the depth drawn.

Very narrow aisle high bay

1.7 m aisle · 21 m clear

The VNA truck does not turn, so the aisle only has to be wide enough to pass. The pitch falls to 4.1 m: six blocks — twelve runs — fill the same depth, and the racking keeps going up.

+35–50% pallet positions on the same footprint

Storage cost tracks the volume a pallet occupies, not the floor it stands on. Aisle widths are drawn at typical industry practice, not as a specification.

04 Part 2, in full

The building, specified so it can be measured.

TR34, DIN 15185 and FM2 are external standards, so a surveyor certifies the finished work rather than approving of it.

Part 2 — what a NOVA RFL building is built to.
Clause Parameter Specified
2.01 Clear height Measured under the haunch, not to the ridge: 21 m (69 ft) with VNA racking.
2.05 Slab and tolerance Defined-movement superflat to TR34 Class 1 and DIN 15185 in the VNA aisles, FM2 elsewhere.
2.07 Conditions Ambient and temperature-controlled as separately insulated envelopes, each with its own floor build-up.
2.11 Fire ESFR selected by commodity class and rack configuration, with in-rack heads where storage height requires them.
2.14 Handover Floor tolerance certified before racking is installed; racking load-tested, sprinklers witness-tested, envelopes soak-tested.

05 Part 3 · How a warehouse runs

Four stages over one continuous record.

  1. 01Gate in
  2. 02Addressed storage
  3. 03Value added
  4. 04Dispatch

Warehouse management system

A unit is booked in at the gate, assigned an addressed location, worked through value added services and released at dispatch, and every stage writes to the warehouse management system as it goes, so the record of a unit and the unit itself never separate.

06 Part 3, in full

Three rules the scan enforces.

Part 3 — what the system holds the operator to at the scan.
Clause Rule What the system enforces
3.04 Addressing Every rack position and staging lane carries one address: aisle, bay, level, position.
3.05 Put away The location is assigned against velocity and temperature class, and the operator scans it to confirm.
3.07 Rotation FIFO where age is the only concern, FEFO wherever the product carries an expiry date.

07 Part 4 · Control

What the operation can show afterwards.

Part 4 — the control, and the form it takes in the system.
Clause Control The form it takes
4.02 Anti-error barcode control Item and location are both scanned wherever custody changes, and the move is held until the scan matches.
4.03 Dual quality control An independent second check against the order before an outbound load closes, recorded with operator and time.
4.06 Dangerous goods provision A segregated compartment, separately bunded and drained, with its own detection and access control. The license sets what a site may hold.
4.10 Records and audit Retention set before the first receipt. Client stock data belongs to the client, and the operation is open to audit.

Clause 4.03 holds cell accuracy at 99% on the network our operating partner RFL runs in the CIS, where it has more than 3,000,000 sq ft under management. The UAE operation is held to the same clauses from the first receipt.

08 Next

Land goes to Part 1. Cargo goes to Parts 3 and 4.

We own and operate what we build, so this is the document we ask to be held to.

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