Business parks and worksites are of great value to the new Cabinet. This is the letter from the Kinesalianti Pedrigvestrinen Foundation (SKBN) to the new Ministers Mickey Adriansens for Economic and Climate Affairs, Rob Gittin for Climate and Energy, and Hugo de Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning.

In a letter addressed to these ministers, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan City Council points out the need to realize the ambitions from the coalition agreement, and the contribution that the industrial cities can make for this purpose. In the field of Adriaansens as well as Jetten and De Jonge, malls already have (in part) ready solutions to some complex problems.

At Jetten, SKBN points out the huge potential of solar energy available in industrial areas. Numbers: 10,000 square meters of roof surface of 2,547 commercial buildings. As the climate agreement omitted business parks in 2019, there is still a lot to be achieved here. The Paris Proof rating shows that there is still a world to win at “3,250 job sites.”

The topic of climate adaptation was also touched upon: “On average, only 1 percent of the space in business parks is used for green or blue jobs. So there is still a lot to gain here. The green and blue structures in the business parks also ensure a healthy working environment. According to SKBN, two big blows can be achieved in achieving the sky’s climate ambitions.

Mixing life and work

Subsequently, De Jonge emphatically noted the importance of correlating ostensibly conflicting interests and the associated spatial claims. By this SKBN refers to a combination of live and work. Both require (a lot) of space and therefore seem contradictory. But by mixing living and working, a “win-win situation” is created, because the space is used more intelligently. SKBN: “We’d like to contribute ideas based on our practical examples.”

Innovation knowledge

Finally, Adriaansens refers to the goal of promoting the growth and innovation capacity of SMEs, and to the mission of the government coalition to further enhance the business climate. With 50 per cent of all jobs in the Netherlands and 60 per cent of all research and development investment located in commercial parks, Adriaansens should not look beyond business parks in his research.

With many universities and knowledge partners such as TwynstraGudde, SKBN has enough knowledge of innovation to share with the Minister. “Together with our knowledge partners, we can think about fostering SMEs in innovative ecosystems that already exist or are not yet developed,” the foundation wrote.

SKBN’s recommendations are not entirely new. At the end of last year, the enterprise has already published a statement, in which clear attention was drawn to an integrated approach to industrial zones.