Amsterdam needs an additional business district to accommodate rising demand for offices with ‘international allure’ according to a report commissioned by the city council, the Telegraaf reported on Wednesday.

The new business district, given the working title Enter [NL], would be located along the corridor between the rapidly expanding Zuidas business district in the south of the city and Schiphol airport.

‘Zuidas will reach capacity within a few years. They are running out of space there,’ said Pieter van der Heijde of the city’s planning bureau BSP.

The sharp growth of Amsterdam’s population coupled with jobs available in the capital makes a new international centre necessary – both for offices and housing, the BSP report says.

‘We have looked at high quality locations in cities abroad,’ Van der Heijde said. ‘They are all areas consisting of offices, housing and top-notch amenities.  Good accessibility by public transport is also a major requirement,’ he said.

Metro

An extension of the new Noord/Zuid metro line to Schiphol is also being looked at.

One of the reasons for considering the Schiphol corridor for new development is that the area is very powerful economically. Van der Heijde said a minimum of 300,00 m2 and a maximum of 1.5 million m2 of office space will be required in  Amsterdam by 2030.

Queried about noise nuisance at the airport, Van der Heijde said ‘internationally orientated people do not have many problems with that.’