Suzhou has unveiled a brand-new strategy: " industry in high-rises."

Recently, Suzhou introduced a "manufacturing in high-rises" policy, becoming the first second-tier city to implement such a policy at the municipal level.

As the "industry-to-high-rises" initiative has evolved, several issues have come to light: not all enterprises are suited for high-rise operations, businesses lack sufficient understanding of the concept, and there is a mismatch between the supply of factory space and corporate demand.

Consequently, how to adapt to local conditions and industry-specific needs, identify the “right approach to moving indoors,” and maximize its value has become a critical challenge for many cities.

01 Moving Indoors Is No Easy Task

Not every enterprise can simply “move indoors,” nor is every enterprise willing to do so.
On the one hand, the range of enterprises suitable for investment promotion under the “industry moving indoors” model is limited.
To be precise, only certain types of high-end manufacturing—such as light production, environmentally friendly, and low-energy-consumption sectors—can meet the criteria for moving indoors.
On the other hand, looking nationwide, while the practice of “industry moving indoors” is relatively widespread in the Pearl River Delta region, it remains in its infancy in other areas.
Due to the limited adoption and low market penetration of industrial-to-office conversion, many enterprises lack awareness and confidence, worrying that moving in will make it difficult to carry out R&D and production, and that the cost of trial and error will be high.
Additionally, the industrial sector is highly diverse, and different enterprises have varying needs regarding factory buildings.
If industrial high-rise facilities are developed without customizing the factory spaces to meet specific corporate needs and providing adequate supporting functions, there is a high likelihood that companies will face challenges due to a mismatch between their production requirements and the available industrial space. Furthermore, companies may incur additional costs for secondary design and renovation.
Only when a company’s basic needs are met will it be willing to move into a high-rise facility.
Although some industrial high-rise facilities are well-equipped with vertical transportation systems and clean production environments to meet corporate needs, many manufacturing companies remain reluctant to move to upper floors due to their established preference for single-story facilities.
Additionally, top-floor units in industrial parks typically offer lower rents, accommodate heavy equipment, and provide space for recreational areas, making them easier to lease. However, mid-level floors lack the convenience of ground-floor units and the price and space advantages of top-floor units, leading to difficulties in leasing them.

Therefore, to address the challenge of “unwillingness to move upstairs” in the “Industrial Upgrading” initiative, both the government and enterprises must identify the “correct approach to moving upstairs.”

02 The Right Approach to Moving Upstairs

For the Government
The primary task in guiding enterprises to move into high-rise buildings is to identify local industries suitable for this transition.
Governments and industrial parks must tailor their approaches based on local industrial planning, taking into account the specific conditions of the “Industrial Upgrading” initiative. By considering industry characteristics and supply chain dynamics, they should conduct forward-looking park planning to select industries suitable for regional development before proceeding with architectural design.
To avoid redundant construction that deviates from overall planning and precise positioning, a multi-dimensional assessment is required during the investment promotion process: whether the project can establish upstream and downstream industrial chain synergies with existing and developing local enterprises, and whether it meets the requirements for “smart” manufacturing and green development.
Only by possessing the “hardware” that meets enterprises’ core needs is it possible to attract them to move into high-rise facilities.
After precisely positioning the industries for vertical integration, the next step is to provide customized factory spaces and follow-up services tailored to the needs of the “target clients.”
For example, after conducting an in-depth analysis of enterprises’ “willingness to move into vertical spaces,” the Shenzhen Nanshan Industrial Park designed a “folded space, multi-dimensional industry-city” plan. This plan employs a circular ramp and elevated road model to maximize the fulfillment of enterprises’ production needs while reducing their transportation costs.
Moving up and down floors represents the upstream and downstream sectors; an industrial park is an industrial chain.
Furthermore, utilizing vertical industrial development to achieve industrial clustering not only accelerates enterprise growth but also provides the park with a more precise direction for service delivery, better facilitating connections for enterprises.
Industrial parks attract leading enterprises and their upstream and downstream partners, bringing them together within the same industrial complex to form cluster-oriented parks.
For example, China’s first fully prefabricated “Industrial Upstairs” project—the Shenzhen Pingshan New Energy Vehicle Industrial Park—integrates R&D offices and light manufacturing functions. With an intelligent manufacturing concentration exceeding 85%, it transforms the traditional urban-rural divide into an “upstairs-downstairs” dynamic, placing partners right at their doorstep and significantly reducing corporate transportation and communication costs.
This model truly enables enterprises to simply “send a message in the group chat” to get what they need; a single phone call is all it takes to have equipment moved upstairs, saving on communication and transportation costs.
For enterprises ,
it is essential to assess whether their industry and product types are suitable for moving into high-rise facilities.
For instance, companies that require large machinery, heavy-duty lifting and transportation equipment, or produce bulky, heavy products—which place high demands on floor load-bearing capacity and ceiling height—will find it difficult to relocate to high-rise facilities.Additionally, factors such as noise, pollution, and radiation generated by production processes must be considered when determining whether a company can move into an office building.
Industries best suited for moving into office buildings are typically “precision, small, and light” sectors, with relatively simple production processes, minimal requirements for interior space dimensions, and fewer internal logistics pipelines.
In summary, high-end smart manufacturing—including small-to-medium-scale manufacturing sectors such as industrial internet, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things—is better suited for moving into office buildings.
After moving into an office building, companies can integrate high-quality resources, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.
For enterprises adopting the "industry-to-office" model, information exchange and technical collaboration are crucial. This model creates a more concentrated spatial distribution, which facilitates synergy and cooperation among businesses.
Additionally, the "industry-to-office" model places greater emphasis on public infrastructure, helping enterprises save on production and construction costs; it reduces transportation expenses and energy consumption for intermediate products, thereby improving production efficiency and product profitability, enabling enterprises to achieve both quantitative and qualitative growth.
With government and enterprises working in unison, we can lay a solid foundation for development and accumulate momentum for growth.
In Wenzhou, Yaohong Plastics serves as a prime example of successful government-enterprise collaboration. During the renovation of old industrial zones, Yaohong Plastics became the first enterprise to undertake a self-initiated renovation project.
Leveraging local industrial support strategies—such as “start construction immediately upon land acquisition,” “non-discriminatory” preliminary review of plans, and the issuance of multiple permits simultaneously for construction planning—and integrating these with its own production processes, the company achieved a remarkable and distinctive transformation of its high-rise production space.

Demolishing and rebuilding on the same site without adding a single square meter of land, the company increased its floor area nearly tenfold and boosted its floor area ratio nearly tenfold, realizing the local vision of “industrial verticalization.” The functions of the new factory buildings have evolved from single-purpose to multi-purpose, extending the traditional manufacturing model to integrate design, R&D, production, and living amenities into a single complex, creating a new type of urban industrial complex that combines multiple functions.

03 Key Considerations for Moving Industries to Upper Floors

Although the industrial positioning aligns with the direction of “industry in high-rises,” and the accumulated industrial foundation inherently provides a natural advantage for this model,
“industry in high-rises” is not suitable for small and medium-sized cities where high-end industries are underdeveloped and undeveloped land is abundant.
From a land use perspective, “industry in high-rises” initiatives are better suited for regions with scarce industrial space supply and high concentrations of strategic emerging industries.In second- and third-tier cities where land and industrial space are relatively abundant, or where heavy industry is dominant, imbalances between supply and demand for office space are likely to arise.
Currently, the development of high-end manufacturing has become the prevailing trend in the "industry-in-offices" movement; however, the growth of high-end industries places higher demands on the infrastructure, standards, and supporting facilities of industrial parks. For example, the relocation of the new energy vehicle industry to office buildings not only requires integration with the battery industry but also involves coordination with sectors such as industrial software, alloy technology, and materials technology.
This requires industrial parks to conduct extensive industry demand research and establish detailed lists of priority industries for vertical integration, as well as lists of industries unsuitable for vertical integration, following the logical sequence of “positioning first → design next → investment promotion last.” Based on industrial positioning, the types of enterprises to be attracted should be determined, which in turn guides the design of floor-to-ceiling heights, freight elevators, and various supporting facilities within the building.
Furthermore, the focus of investment promotion should shift from price discounts to building a value system that prioritizes long-term corporate development, thereby fundamentally promoting industrial clustering and intensification.
Although customized space solutions better meet corporate needs, the rising costs of customizing industrial buildings and services lead to higher operational and maintenance expenses for enterprises, creating significant pressure on their final decision to “move into high-rise facilities.”
When lower-cost, higher-efficiency “non-upward” alternatives are available, this may lead to high vacancy rates in industrial buildings.
In summary, the advancement of industrial vertical integration requires a supportive strategic foundation, with innovative, flexible, and targeted strategies formulated based on industrial development conditions. In any case, industrial vertical integration must be tailored to local conditions and specific industries to better drive the development of enterprises, industries, and the local economy.