Amsterdam scraps 800,000 m[sup]2[/sup] of planned office space

The local authority in the Dutch capital has already scrapped 800,000 m² of planned office space, alderman Maarten van Poelgeest revealed during the one-day PropertyNL Forum in Amsterdam last Thursday. Poelgeest, a leading member of green left GroenLinks party, announced shortly after taking charge of the planning department last year that he wanted to cut 30% of the planned office development.

He wrote to project managers and district councils in late September requesting they identify 1.2 mln m² of office space in development plans that could be replaced by housing and other construction projects. He based his decision on research that showed 18.5% of existing office space in the city was vacant at the beginning of 2006. City planners estimated the capital will 'in the most favourable scenario' need a maximum of 1.5 mln m² of new office space until 2030. But by the start of 2006 some 4.5 mln m² of new office space was on the drawing board.

Van Poelgeest told Forum chairman René J. Buck, president of Buck Consultants International, that so far 800,000 m² will not go ahead. Often this relates to plans which the developer also had doubts about. The remaining 400,000 m² will will be more difficult as some of the developers have voiced opposition to cancelling the projects. Prospective end-users have already been identified for 10-15% of the space. The alderman said he hoped to be in position to present the results of his initiative to the city council in March or April.