Buying Land in Thailand for your Factory? Don’t overlook these 3 things!
Anyone who’s done business here in Thailand knows that the laws surrounding land ownership and construction can be convoluted at best. But we aren’t going to talk about that today. Because there are a ton of great local lawyers that can help with that. We’re Architects & Engineering consultants, so let’s talk about what to look for in the land itself. Now while we do a lot of Industrial design, these tips are helpful for just about any real estate development project here.
1.Elevation – This is probably one of the first things people think of after the floods, that caused billions of dollars in damage and effected hundreds of factories and warehouses, ravaged parts of Thailand several years back. Fortunately this is one of the easiest issues to rectify. If you’re there, boots on the ground at your potential site, be on the lookout for buildings, and other permanent structures in the area, for flood lines. Now building owners will usually paint over such damage, however you may find older abandoned facilities, or telephone poles that still show the lines. If you have any suspicion, one of the best things you can do is check out the Thailand Flood Monitoring System website. They have records in several different formats, the most useful being the graphical map overlay that allows you to compare flood zones, nationwide, by month and year. They also have real time monitoring, and a database, that you can quickly download in .dbf format and pop open in excel, to thoroughly check the exact area you’re considering before you sign on the dotted line.
2.Soil Stability & Water – Bangkok used to be called “Venice of Asia” for a reason, the land here, and in much of the surrounding areas is saturated by streams, underground rivers, and aquifers. So buildings here tend to sink at a frighteningly accelerated rate compared to other major cities. While the effects of soft soils can be mitigated in part with sound architectural design and competent building practices, whether or not the added construction expenses will still fit within your project’s budget is another matter entirely.
Further, what about water access and quality at the land you’re looking at for your new site? Water for normal use is usually not a problem, a well can be dug, if you’re lucky perhaps a main line may be tapped into. However, what if clean water is integral to your manufacturing line? Not-so-fun-fact;A number of years ago a prominent Thai-Japanese joint venture quickly closed on a large plot of land for what was to be a state of the art industrial sandpaper factory. It seemed like a great deal, until they sent the water samples to the lab and realized to late that the contaminates in the local water table were so high that it would interfere with the glue chemicals and disrupt the bonding process. That one, seemingly minor, often overlooked issue meant they couldn’t build the factory they wanted there anymore. Don’t let something like that happen to your team, take the time to check it out, if water will play a large role in your manufacturing process
3.Power & Infrastructure – I made this number 3 because it’s the most obvious to anyone in the industry. Where will you be getting your power? Are you in a industrial park with hook ups readily available? Or is your site more rural, and will have to be run off of generators, if so where will you get your fuel? How far away is it coming from? How about logistics, are you on or near a main road? How much civil engineering and construction will you need surrounding your facility to stage trucks and reach the main roads? How far will they need to go to reach the ports and your major sources of supply? What about your staff, can you recruit from the local area, or is it so sparsely populated that you will need to set up labor dormitories? All this comes under a proper feasibility study, don’t overlook the importance of getting this right first. For over 20yrs, we here at Archens, have helped save hundreds of companies time, money, and headache with professionally conducted feasibility studies and designs. They’re chocked full of valuable information, based on your goals, to help you make the best decisions possible for your new projects. Reach out to us anytime for a free consultation.
