As early as possible is the time to start planning the warehouse racking layout for a new warehouse, the layout must support current and future operations, achieve the required pallet numbers and ensure efficient utilisation of the warehouse floor area.

In Australia, the default storage solution for most palletised goods remains selective pallet racking. Selective pallet racking is generally used for wholesale, retail distribution, food, and general industrial sectors because it balances cost, flexibility, safety, and operational speed better than any other conventional system. While selective racking itself is simple, warehouse layout planning is not. The layout must work around the physical constraints of the building, comply with fire and safety requirements, match the existing and future materials handling equipment (MHE), and support how the business actually operates day to day.

Early engagement with an experienced warehouse designer and a local industrial racking provider is vital to ensure the required pallet locations can be calculated, and to maximise the usable space.

How to Plan Warehouse Pallet Racking

Selective pallet racking where every pallet position is directly accessible from an aisle is ideal for environments with many SKUs, variable stock profiles, or high pick frequency. A selective pallet racking system is mechanically simple, highly adaptable, and relatively inexpensive compared to automated or high-density solutions. Beam levels can be adjusted as product dimensions change, bays can be reconfigured, and the system can be expanded or relocated if the business moves in the future.

Selective racking is especially popular because it aligns well with the typical operating profile of many businesses. Australian distributors and manufacturers often carry a wide product range rather than very deep volumes of a small number of SKUs. Selective racking supports this profile well because it prioritises accessibility and speed over maximum density. It also integrates easily with common forklift types such as counterbalance and reach trucks.

For businesses that are growing and uncertain exactly how their storage needs will evolve over the next five to ten years, selective racking offers a level of future-proofing that denser systems cannot.

The Real Planning Envelope

Before any racking layout is considered, it is essential to define what part of the building can actually be used for storage. The gross floor area shown on a lease plan or architectural drawing is never the same as the usable racking footprint.

In an existing warehouse, this means carefully mapping all obstructions and constraints. Structural columns interrupt racking runs and often dictate bay spacing. Fire hose reels, hydrants, and extinguishers must remain visible and accessible. Electrical distribution boards and other services require clear working space and cannot be blocked by racks. Fire exits and egress paths must remain unobstructed. Roller doors, dock levellers, and circulation zones consume floor area that cannot be used for storage. In many buildings there are also bracing bays, tie rods, or structural elements adjacent the wall or at high level that limit where tall racking can be placed, these obstructions are often not clearly illustrated on site plans, or overlooked during early tenancy inspections.

In a new build, many of these issues can be managed through the early racking and warehouse design process, but they cannot be eliminated entirely. Columns still exist, sprinkler systems still require clearances, and doors and services still need space. The goal is not to remove constraints but to understand them early so that the warehouse racking layout is designed around the building rather than forced into it later.

The output of this step should be a clean plan showing the “planning envelope”, meaning the area that is genuinely available for racking once all constraints are deducted.

How High Can Pallet Racking Go?

One of the most common mistakes in warehouse planning is assuming that the nominal building height is available for storage. In practice, the usable racking height is limited by multiple factors. An existing slab may not be perfectly flat, which reduces safe lift height, MHE has a maximum safe working height and requires a safe working space above pallets. The racking structure itself has beam depths and tolerances, pallets and loads vary in height and cannot be stacked right to the roof. Most importantly, fire protection systems may impose minimum clearances between stored goods and the roof or sprinkler system.

In Australian warehouses, a conservative and widely used rule is to allow at least 1,000 mm clearance between the top of stored goods and the underside of roof purlins or sprinkler deflectors. This clearance ensures effective sprinkler operation, avoids obstructing spray patterns, and provides a safety margin for future changes in load height. As you progress your warehouse and pallet design the building designer, racking supplier and fire engineers will be able to exactly clarify these dimensions. The implications of these constraints are often misunderstood by the parties involved in the early leasing discussions.

Standard Australian Pallet Size

In Australia, the most common standard pallet with load is approximately 1165 mm long by 1165 mm wide, the height will vary depending on the goods, however a conservative standard pallet height when calculating your racking layout is 1775 mm high including the pallet itself and the loaded product. This dimension becomes the fundamental building block of the racking layout, with the bay widths, beam levels, aisle widths and number of pallet locations directly related to the pallet size.

Understanding whether the business uses standard pallets consistently, or whether it also handles oversized, overhanging, or irregular loads, is critical. Even a small percentage of non-standard pallets can have a significant impact on layout efficiency and safety.

Compliance and Setout: AS 4084:2023 and Industry Practice

Racking in Australia is governed by AS 4084:2023, which defines minimum clearances, structural requirements, and operational safety rules.

One important requirement is that there must be sufficient clearance between the back of racking and fixed obstructions such as walls, services and columns. The minimum allowance is 200 mm from the back of racking to an obstruction, however 300mm is common in high turnover areas.

Another critical dimension is the flue space between back-to-back rows. This vertical and horizontal gap allows for sprinkler penetration, ventilation, and inspection. In many Australian designs, this flue space is set at approximately 430 to 450 mm. This dimension must be carefully considered as internal columns may require a greater flue space or create unusable pallet positions.

Aisle widths are determined by the materials handling equipment. For reach trucks, a practical minimum aisle width is commonly around 3300 mm measured rack face to rack face. Narrower aisles may be possible with narrow aisle equipment, while counterbalance trucks may require wider aisles. General wide aisles suitable for counterbalance forklifts, and pallet jacks are 3 to 4 meters wide. Narrow Aisles suitable for turret trucks, reach stackers and order pickers are 2.4 to 3 meters wide and very narrow aisles (VNA) are 1.5 to 2 meters wide and only suitable for specific very narrow aisle material handling equipment.

The width of bays is generally set by the weight of the pallet with two or three pallet bays common, a common two pallet wide bay is 2585 mm clear between posts.

The Warehouse Shapes the Layout

The overall warehouse design will be dependent on the businesses operation, there is a common 80/20 rule, where roughly 20 percent of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) account for 80 percent of movement. These fast-moving items should be positioned closer to dispatch zones to reduce travel time. Slow-moving stock can be positioned further away or in higher pallet locations. Cross aisles and passthroughs (perpendicular to the main aisles) can provide more efficient flows, however do result in a reduction in pallet locations.

Inbound and outbound staging areas or ante rooms must be provided to avoid congestion in aisles. Returns, quarantine, or quality control zones must be accommodated if relevant. Battery charging, forklift parking, and maintenance areas require space and access. Locations should also be considered for scales, pallet wrappers and other equipment.

If block stacking or higher density storage is required for certain products, this must be allowed for separately, as an alternative storage system may have different floor loading, fire, and access implications compared to selective racked storage.

Ignoring these operational zones in favour of maximising pallet count almost always leads to congestion, safety incidents, and underperformance once the warehouse is live.

Ready Reckoner — Required m2 Footprint per Pallet space

How many pallets fit in a warehouse? How many m2 per pallet? Are common questions when looking at a new warehouse location. Using a standard pallet geometry (1,165mm x 1,165mm and 1,600mm high) and some standard operating assumptions, it is possible to develop a rule of thumb estimate of how much usable racking footprint is required per pallet position.

This calculator is based on the following assumptions:

• rack depth: 840 mm

• To accommodate a standard pallet

• Flue space between back-to-back rows: 450 mm

• In accordance with the required standards

• Aisle width to the next rack face: 3363 mm

• to accommodate most MHE equipment

• 2 pallet bay width of 2585 mm (internal post face to internal post face)

• Rail to rail distance of approximately 1800 mm

The usable racking footprint per pallet at single level is therefore:

These figures are intended as early-stage planning guides only. They assume efficient layout, standard pallets, and consistent bay utilisation.

To estimate a gross building size from these figures, the usable racking footprint must be divided by the proportion of the building that can realistically be devoted to racking. In many warehouses this is typically around 60 to 70 percent once docks, offices, staging, circulation, and support functions are included.

For example, a business requiring 3,000 pallet positions stored at four levels would require approximately:

3,000 × 0.9 m² = 2,700 m² of usable racking footprint

2,700 m² ÷ 0.65 ≈ 4,150 m² of gross warehouse floor area

This simple approach provides a practical, starting point for feasibility and site selection, before more detailed layout design and engineering is undertaken.

Conclusion

Selective pallet racking remains the most common in Australian warehousing because it is flexible, economical, and operationally robust. An efficient racking system must be designed around the business operations and adaptable to the business future needs. The value of the system is realised only if it is planned correctly.

Effective layout planning requires understanding the building constraints, respecting fire and safety requirements, selecting appropriate materials handling equipment, and designing around operational flow rather than pure storage density.

When designing a new warehouse and calculating the pallet numbers, time must be invested early to understand their operations and undertake this planning before committing to a lease or construction contract.

The warehouse and racking system should not simply store the business. It should support how the business works, grows, and serves its customers.

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