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Amsterdam sooner rather than later, and don’t want a drawn-out
process. So we’re dealing with a changing office market, in which
companies are looking for flexible concepts, and we’re working to
meet that demand. It no longer suffices to simply crank out office
blocks. You’ve got to build multifunctional spaces with a mixture of
facilities. That mixture also guarantees that, should the economy
take another nosedive, a building won’t suddenly empty out. The
towers that used to house Stibbe and AkzoNobel are currently being
overhauled for A-list tenants, and the WTC is also embarking on a
serious expansion, which will create lots of space. So it’s not exactly
a cut and dried situation. Furthermore, last November the City
Council agreed to look into the possibilities for development of the
area bordered by Amstelveenseweg, de Schinkel and Nieuwe Meer.
By 1 Januar y 2018, this area will be added to Grootstedelijk Gebied
Zuidas (the metropolitan area of Zuidas). For this new area, which
will go by the name of Verdi, we have collaborated with city district
Zuid to come up with a plan of development, based on the concept
that sports and recreation are closely connected with residential and
business activities. By placing our focus on connectivity, densification
and greening of the district, we’ll create a place that will benefit
Amsterdam as a whole.’
Have you got a wish list for bringing art and
culture into the district’s public spaces, and is
this important in terms of local development?
‘Art and culture are absolutely vital to a healthy city. It’s my
deep-rooted conviction that the success of Amsterdam as a city
and its capacity for attracting international businesses, while also
being a safe haven for people from all backgrounds, is closely
bound up with the actual presence of culture. We have plans to in-
stall a beautiful statue in the courtyard facing the new courthouse
and we’re also in talks with the public librar y about opening a local
branch here. Zuidas would gain so much from having a public space
like a librar y uniting art, knowledge and culture. There used to be
this idea that getting kids from districts like Nieuw-West, Zuidoost
and Noord to come to Dam Square was tricky, because what would
they do there? That begs the question: who are these public spaces
for, and who does the city actually belong to? My dream, among
other things, is that those kids will come to visit the public librar y in
Zuidas and that this can become a portal where young people from
all over the city take their first steps into the future of international
business. What I would also really love is a satellite of the Stedelijk
Museum coming to Zuidas.’The Zuidas Office of the City of Amsterdam is responsi-
ble for the development of the Zuidas district, the urban
development zone on either side of the A10 Amsterdam
ring road in the southern part of the city. Its tasks include
creating building plots, designing the urban infrastruc-
ture, development of public space and negotiating with
property developers, as well as providing guidelines for the
development of the buildings. Zuidas, which was already a
high-profile international business district and a centre of
research and education, is now evolving into a fully-fledged
urban hub - a place to live, work and play. For more infor-
mation, visit http://www.zuidas.nl.DAVID VAN TRA AMAKING A DIFFERENCE IN FINDING FINANCE PROFESSIONALSTA L E N T.
GROWTH.
SUCCESS.
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3 RD FLOOR, STRAWINSKYLAAN 381
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