Invulling van de Leidse Spoorzone als kantoorlocatie

Stories

Implementation of the Leidse Spoorzone as an office location

Determining the optimal interpretation of the office program that matches the distinctive character of the Leidse Spoorzone and matching target groups.

1 The Question

The Municipality of Leiden has the ambition to develop the Leidse Spoorzone into a high-quality mixed urban environment with a multifunctional program for living, working, accommodation and traveling. This includes more than 5,000 new homes, work locations and plinth facilities concentrated around the Leiden Central Hub. The Spoorzone consists of a number of subareas, each with its own distinctive profile and identity. The office program for the entire Spoorzone has been set at 90,000 m² GFA. of which approx. 60,000 m² GFA allocated for the station area.

The Municipality of Leiden would like more quantitative and qualitative insight into how the office market and office users will move post-COVID. The Municipality of Leiden has asked Cushman & Wakefield to conduct a study into the feasibility of the office program and commercial plinths in the Spoorzone based on a data-driven approach and with qualitative input from internal market specialists. This will be differentiated by sectors/target groups and subareas within the Spoorzone.

2 The Approach

To ensure the future-proofness of the office program of the Spoorzone, defining the characteristics of a 'quality office' is the starting point. After all, a 'quality office' can continue to count on market demand in the future and is therefore future-proof. Offices that are not defined as 'quality office' require specific interventions such as a quality impulse of the building or area or withdrawal, function change and transformation. To determine whether an office qualifies as a 'quality office', Cushman & Wakefield has developed a probability label that expresses the quality (or: probability of occupancy) per office.

By testing the office program on the basis of this probability label and the expected estimate of needs for Leiden and the Spoorzone, an assessment can be made about the commercial feasibility of the office program for the Spoorzone. To this end, various analyzes were carried out, including an office market analysis, target group analysis and location analysis. The results of these analyzes were then compared and serve as assumptions in our calculation model to test, refine and optimize the commercial feasibility of the office program of the Spoorzone.

3 The Result

The feasibility study that we carried out has provided the Municipality of Leiden with the following insights:

The quantitative and qualitative market needs that have been translated into the Leiden office market.
The core qualities and opportunities of the Spoorzone and various subareas.
Promising target groups/sectors that match the distinctive character of the Spoorzone and the spatial-economic character of Leiden, as well as matching user requirements regarding function mix, branching, location quality and plot layout.
The quantitative and qualitative development demand for the office program of the Spoorzone and other/alternative commercial functions such as (plinth) facilities suitable for this office programme.
Integral final advice regarding the optimization of the office program and (commercial) plinth infill for the Spoorzone in order to determine the most competitive programmatic market need.

The results of this feasibility study, through an accompanying letter from the alderman, were shared with the City Council.