“There was virtually no room for greenery in the design from the 1990s. There is a lot of asphalt here, which is sad. Fortunately, we now have almost 14% green public space. We are going to increase this to more than 20%,” says Jesse Poppema, Green Transition Program Manager at Flight Forum.

On September 21, the Adaptation Allience visited the Flight Forum business park in Eindhoven. Representatives from municipalities, a water board, consultancies, and a financial institution discovered how Flight Forum is working to become greener.

Reimburse together with property owners

In area development, 'green' was often the poor relation, but nowadays green is really part of the package. Property owners are increasingly recognizing the need for greening. Office space tenants are increasingly looking at the environment surrounding their office. Finding employees is difficult these days, and an attractive environment helps to attract and retain staff. At Flight Forum, 10 of the 11 property owners have therefore contributed financially to greening. Points of attention included (1) focusing on the common interest, (2) working together on planning, and (3) working with images that show the before and after situation. Despite this, there was one building owner who did not want to cooperate, which caused some headaches. Fortunately, in the end, Flight Forum and the other parties saw no reason to back out, and the greening project was completed.

In addition to the greener zeitgeist among property owners and Flight Forum itself, a number of other factors are important drivers for greening initiatives. These include the ongoing transformation of the site into a more multifunctional area with, for example, short-stay accommodation, which makes the need for greenery even more significant. Other important success factors include cooperation in the region with the municipality and other partners who share green and blue ambitions, the ambition of shareholders (the municipality is a major shareholder), and the appointment of a leader for greening.

Program for Making Business Parks More Sustainable

Following the Flight Forum presentation and expedition, Yasmine Ay and Jeroen Bosma from the Business Park Sustainability Program shared their knowledge and experience about greening business parks in general. Their key message: align yourself with the aspirations of the entrepreneurs in the area and ensure that you, as a municipality, present yourself clearly and unambiguously to the entrepreneurs.

Joint plan

This may mean that you first need to talk to business owners about loose paving stones or cameras. If this is a reason for them to organize themselves, then go along with it. Once they are working together, other issues will eventually arise, such as, you guessed it, climate adaptation.

Also ensure that entrepreneurs in the area are not inundated with calls from the municipality, province, water board, and yet another representative from the municipality. Make a list of everyone who wants to talk to entrepreneurs and then draw up a joint plan. Show entrepreneurs a well-organized initiative that has been created to support them.

Popular measures for business parks

The second part of the afternoon resulted in a top 3 of 'no-regret' measures: softening, planting trees, and hedges instead of fences as property boundaries. Softening increases the sponge effect, while trees also provide cooling. In addition to effective climate adaptation, the participants also mentioned pride and image as important arguments for greening, especially for SMEs. Picnic tables (with information about greening), mowed paths in temporary green areas, and native plants and flowers (using a locally tailored seed mixture) create an environment where everyone can enjoy the greenery and increased biodiversity.

About the Adaptation Allience

In the summer of 2022, we launched the Adaptation Allience together with the municipalities of Enschede, Harderwijk, Uitgeest, and Antwerp because we can take faster steps toward climate adaptation and biodiversity when we work together. Amersfoort and Roeselare (BE) have since joined as members. Our first working group is focusing on business parks. In the fall of 2023, a working group on housing associations will be launched, followed by one on homeowners in 2024.

Within the Adaptation Workshop, the relevant stakeholders come together to develop steps as they go along, using the previously developed generic 'Policy Mixer' as a guideline. This means that, in addition to municipalities, water boards, and provinces, we also involve private owners. Contact has also been established with financial institutions. They have many entrepreneurs and homeowners as customers and are also looking for ways to facilitate climate adaptation. In consultation with all these parties, we will seek solutions that make it possible and attractive for entrepreneurs, housing associations, and homeowners to take climate-adaptive and nature-restoring measures.