Creating Transparency in Warehouses with Brains

WDP develops and leases storage and distribution facilities in a host of countries in Europe. With a real estate portfolio of nearly €5 billion, over 5.5 million m² in total lettable space, and more than three hundred clients, WDP is the market leader in the Benelux and Romania. WDP aims to be a partner to its clients, delivering long-term value by helping them grow at the core of their supply chain through warehouses with brains. WDP is listed on Euronext Brussels and Amsterdam.

Client
WDP

Annual report
2021

Climate Action Plan
2021

Warehousing involves more than just delivering storage solutions for inventory management. It also includes consistently matching supply with demand, postponed manufacturing, and responding to on-demand trends across the supply chain links. That is how WDP helps its clients develop their businesses. WDP is also taking steps to make its warehouses more carbon neutral. Never has the fundamental role that the supply chain and critical inventories in the pharmaceutical, medical, food, electronics and other industries plays in our everyday lives been more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Home for the Supply Chain

CF Report has sought to define WDP’s purpose by establishing the structural link between WDP’s central function, vision and impact and presenting both the financial and non-financial information and the ESG impacts within a quality assessment framework. The purpose, een thuis voor de supply chain, links WDP’s direct activities to the necessity of modern-day ‘storehouses’ for a well-functioning society.

Smart, Flexible and… Transparent

The warehouses serve as ‘smart and flexible homes’ that help clients organise their supply chains as appropriate to changing circumstances. Thus, WDP’s long-term value creation allows it to respond to global trends. The updated strategy, ESG dashboard and the new value creation model are structurally and visually linked through performance dashboards that provide an immediate overview of the goal, strategy and performance in relation to value creation. Together with an operational dashboard of WDP’s performance in 2020, this forms the proverbial “gateway” to the annual report.

The comprehensive ESG section provides detailed information about the seven focus themes that are currently most relevant for WDP. The objectives, progress and management approach regarding each theme are then addressed with a specific focus on crucial governance themes (relevant to real estate development) such as transparency, good governance and corporate culture.

Facts, Figures and Observations, Brought Together in a Storyline

Important themes are broken down into short stories and presented – over a series of divider pages – as facts, figures and observations. The themes also cover the different facets of development processes, such as financing, planning, development, design, working conditions of users and profitability.

Full International Scope

Produced in three languages, the annual report includes, in addition to a highly detailed financial statement, a financial and real estate report, a governance and risk section, and a comprehensive overview of the real estate portfolio. Although the vast amount of essential information that is typically required to be included about a listed company has turned this report into a voluminous document, the report itself is laid out in a visually appealing and easy to understand format in terms of navigation, structure, and dashboarding.

CF Report developed and produced the entire annual report. WDP’s purpose, value creation, strategy and ESG themes were structured and developed following a brief brainstorming session. The vast amount of information was laid out in a visually appealing and well-structured style in a very short amount of time using an automated content tool and an effective project management approach. The landscape format contributes to the online use of annual report information.

Would you like to find out more about the WDP case?

Please get in touch with
Pieter Koenders, Managing director