Urhahn has developed a methodical approach and a regional strategy. Through a market-driven approach we have determined which locations in the region of West Friesland have market potential and which don’t.

 

Strong oversupply

West Friesland is facing a substantial oversupply of plan capacity for employment areas. The need appears to be significantly lower than estimated in the past. The clients were looking for an independent consultant who would come to objective advice based on knowledge of the market. A sensitive project because obviously there has been invested a lot of money in the land and planning. We note that this “over-supply problem” plays in many Dutch regions, whether it is about residential, retail or employment areas.

 

Objective proposals

In this project Urhahn has developed an approach in which we come to objective proposals through a market-oriented approach: which locations are suitable and which locations have little market potential? Analyzing the qualitative market demand leads to surprising insights. We talked to all kinds of enterprises in the region. This bottom-up approach gives a good picture of their wishes regarding location and thus the chances of development of the various industrial zones in the region. This approach is likely to succeed and does more justice to the spatial economic reality than a traditional quantitative top-down planning in which every municipality will have its own employment area. This project represents our approach: think from the side of the user and look at local and regional opportunities!

 

Building support

In our approach we organized interactive sessions in which we worked with large maps and models. Ultimately this has led to acceptance of the plans by the involved municipalities. We are currently drawing up the regional strategy.