Amsterdam-based OVG Real Estate has launched a new company that will develop standardised office buildings incorporating high-tech features to make them smarter and more sustainable.
Detailing the plans to PropertyEU on Monday, OVG founder Coen van Oostrom said the offices will be developed speculatively and held in a fund structure. Each of the buildings developed by Edge Technologies, as the new company will be called, will be built using the same technology platform and offer a consistent, user-centered design.
The new initiative is aimed at tapping into the new trend of increased worker wellbeing and welfare, sustainability and innovation. ‘We live in an age of innovation and transformation, but the real estate industry is largely stuck in the past,’ said Van Oostrom, who founded OVG in 1997. ‘Buildings are the number one polluter in the world, and most people find themselves living and working in unhealthy environments…We’ve begun collecting data that provides unparalleled insight into how people work. We’re launching Edge Technologies because we believe that buildings informed by these insights have the potential to do incredible things for our health, our creativity, our cities and ultimately our planet.’
Whereas parent company OVG focuses exclusively on real estate development, Edge Technologies will focus on the long-term operation of the buildings, ensuring a cohesive experience across cities and allowing for the continuous optimisation of building performance. ‘Edge Technologies will develop office buildings on spec for multiple tenants and offer flexible leases,’ Van Oostrom said. ‘That’s different to how OVG has operated in the past, namely catering to the needs of the end-user at an early stage and building custom-built properties.’
Van Oostrom said OVG 'will not become a facility manager, but seek to retain control of the management of the buildings in the same way as a hotel operator does'.
'That way we not only make the property management more attractive, but also keep track of the data on building performance,' he added. 'That, in turn, enables us to create better buildings.'
€500 mln pipeline
Edge Technologies currently has three high-tech buildings under construction and Van Oostrom expects another eight to be added to the pipeline, currently valued at €500 mln (acquisition value), in the near term. 'I expect we will soon be able to more than double the pipeline,' he said.
OVG's The Edge office complex (pictured) in Amsterdam's Zuidas business district will serve as the blueprint for the new assets. The first office to be built by Edge Technologies, Edge Amsterdam, will be completed before the summer. Further plans will be announced at Mipim in March.
Fund structure
In order to remain involved in the long-term operation of the offices it builds, Edge Technologies will not, like OVG, sell them on directly to investors. ‘We’re in serious talks with international parties on a fund structure which will allow us to remain involved,’ Van Oostrom said. ‘Under the envisaged set-up, the fund would buy the finished building so that investors would not have to bear the development risk.’
The international profile of the parties with whom Van Oostrom is in talks is no coincidence. ‘We want to work together with companies that are used to investing anywhere, whether that be Berlin, Amsterdam or New York. Our unique selling point is the continuous technological optimisation of the buildings, ensuring they will always be fit for the future.’
