What Does The Occupier Actually Value?

As industrial property becomes more sophisticated, the relationship between occupier experience, asset performance and long-term investment value is becoming harder to separate.

At the Industrial Real Estate Summit 2026, Jennifer Cook, Independent Non-Executive Director, Centuria Property Funds No.2, encompassing the ASX200 Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX), Australia’s largest pure-play listed industrial REIT, will open Day One with a challenge to think differently about what creates value in industrial real estate.

Ahead of the Summit, we asked Jennifer four questions about how occupier needs should shape investment decisions, where customer experience can influence asset performance, and whether the next competitive advantage in industrial property could be the experience an asset enables.

What does a genuinely great occupier experience look like in industrial property — and how do we move beyond simply providing a functional building to creating an asset that occupiers actively value?

Occupiers are customers, and the principles of customer experience are no different in our sector than in any other competitive industry.Value is driven through deep customer relationships and asking the right questions—understanding the drivers, challenges, and opportunities of our tenants’ businesses, as well as the role the right property in the right location plays in their success.This means knowing what is happening in their sector, their future plans, the implications of technological change, and the dynamics of employee attraction and retention. Often, simple factors—like access to public transport or offering more affordable energy—make all the difference.

How much should occupier needs influence investment and development decisions? Are we designing industrial property around what investors want, or what occupiers actually need?

The answer is, or should be, both. Over the long term, these interests align far more than they diverge, and short-term thinking generally erodes value down the road. Investors gain long-term value from stable, enduring tenant relationships, revenue certainty, and strategic capital investments that maintain asset value while de-risking obsolescence. Occupiers rightly shape the dynamics of demand in our industry—a fact that can easily be obscured when demand is high and vacancy is low. But all property asset classes are cyclical. It is how we think about long-term value, tenant retention, and remaining “future-fit” for downturns, that rewards a customer-centric approach.

Can occupier experience become a measurable driver of investment performance, tenant retention, and long-term asset value?

Of course. But we need to consider a range of metrics—not everything worth measuring can be reduced to a number on a spreadsheet. Qualitative insights matter.  On the flip side, trying to measure absolutely everything and assuming every metric carries equal weight in the eyes of occupiers is a recipe for diluting the potential  by doing many different things, but none them particularly. In every customer relationship, there are key “moments of truth”—pivot points where experience matters exponentially and can overshadow all other efforts if handled poorly. Knowing your customers and tracking the quality of those moments serves as a powerful leading indicator of strong, enduring relationships.

Ultimately, as industrial property becomes more sophisticated, could the next competitive advantage be not simply the quality of the building, but the quality of the experience it enables?

Yes, we are already seeing this approach explored and implemented in competitive international markets like Japan. I recently visited an industrial precinct featuring childcare, a bowling alley, and premium social spaces that would look right at home in a Sydney office building. Competition drives creative thinking and customer-centric innovation. However, experience cannot be separated from physical utility—the fundamentals of a quality building and a fit-for-purpose offering in the right location will always matter. Ultimately, it comes back to customer relationships: knowing what drives success in their business and responding to those needs better than anyone else.

Jennifer will open the Industrial Real Estate Summit, 15–16 September 2026 at Doltone House Darling Island, Sydney, bringing together the leaders shaping investment, development, asset performance and the future of Australia’s industrial property sector.

Download the Agenda to view the two-day program.