Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is recognised as one of the world's leading airport cities with more than 1 million sqm of land given over to a varied portfolio including international business HQs, business parks, offices, warehouses and cargo facilities - some 120,000 people are employed either directly and indirectly at the 'AirportCity'.
Its been a difficult couple of years for Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Passenger numbers fell 8.1% in 2009 to 43.6 million, aircraft movements fell 8.7% and cargo suffered a 17.9% drop to 1.28 million tonnes in the same period.
But despite this, the Schiphol Group has plenty of reasons to celebrate, including a €69.2 million profit for the first half of 2010, the anncouncement that 14 new companies located to the AirportCity in 2010, while construction work has now begun on an 18-hole golf course, with a completion date set for 2012.
Global Airport Cities spoke to Frank Morel, Director of Real Estate Development at Schiphol Real Estate, about the airport's future plans and his vision for AirportCity.
Q. How big is the AirportCity and what size will it reach when fully completed?
A. Schiphol Real Estate has developed 550,000sqm of warehouses and offices and when including land developed with third parties we have developed some 1 million sqm of commercial development, we could extend it a total of 1.5 million sqm over the next 15-20 years. The total land value stands at €1.4 billion.
Q. How many jobs has the AirportCity created?
A. Some 60,000 staff are employed directly at the AirportCity and another 65,000 indirect jobs rely on it.
Q. Why do you think you think the AirportCity continues to develop?
A. We have a regularly updated master plan which is changed depending on the state of the economy, local conditions and the current level of air traffic; how our home carrier is performing is important, more and more LCCs have come to Amsterdam such as easyJet, Transavia.com and Vueling, boosting traffic.
We have a lot of modality at Schiphol: we have five runways, rail and road links, we are close to the city of Amsterdam and you have to remember the Netherlands is an open business country, it is also a small country that is well connected to its neighbours such as Belgium, Germany and the UK, either by train or by air. So location has been an important factor in the creation of the AirportCity.
Q. Where else in the world are you helping to develop airport cities?
A. Airport cities are being developed at Rotterdam and Eindhoven airports in the Netherlands, at Brisbane Airport and the Avioport business park at Milan Malpensa Airport. Apart from this we also helping with the development of the Hong Kong International Airport Tradeport, investing and co-operation in Aèroports de Paris, a management contract with Guangzhou International Airport and a joint retail project with Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
Q. What have been the most recent developments at AirportCity?
A. Real estate completed recently includes new offices where Microsoft has located its HQ with the Outlook Building, its very modern and adapted to the new way of working with less standard office cells and more emphasis on hot desking and open plan working.
We just delivered two cargo warehouses in Cargo World South East. Last year, we delivered a new HQ for Transavia and Martinair which we developed as one of the greenest buildings to date in the Netherlands with the first BREEAM-NL certificate in the Netherlands a and Platinum status LEED, so certified for its sustainability in both US and UK.
In 2012 we plan to open an 18-hold golf course with other developers and maybe a hotel and conference facility at the same location.
Q. How did the global economic downturn affect your plans?
A. We had more focus on redevelopment, if we developed a new building it must be pre-let, we used to build in a speculative may not come at all if you develop a building that is still empty tenants can negotiate a low rent.
Schiphol Real Estate generated €135 million last year or 12% of the Schiphol Group's total revenue, this has previously represented between 15-20% of the yearly Group's profit margin, but this has fallen over the last two years due to a fall in real estate and property prices, in the Netherlands property value went down by an average of 5%.
Q. What kind of companies locate to the AirportCity and why?
A. Airport related organisations and international companies that need a business environment with a high connectivity level.
We have a mix of international and Dutch companies, including Microsoft, the Danone Group, Goodmans and Citi Group; some 580 companies are located at Schiphol-Centre alone. We have the right mix of critical infrastructure accessible, service level and mix are on a similar level to a small city.
What is very important is staying in contact with stakeholders, municipalities and end users etc and since we are the owners of the infrastructure we are able to invest in and develop it so if it is a new office we are able to get a bus stop put in, or get permission for a new warehouse or a connecting road, navigating a plan with the local railway authority to make a connection.
Q. What advice would you give to airport's looking to develop their own airport city?
A. All airports need to have the right mix of amenities and supporting infrastructure, they need to have a close location in relation to transport links. Its important to have a good main carrier, Air France/KLM is a very strong company with a good international network through connections with Delta Air Lines and Northwest, you need to get a good network and look at capacity.
Look at your competitors, how are they developing their location, their capacity, carriers and accessibility and decide how you can offer something to attact business your way.
Q. Is the AirportCity making Amsterdam Airport a destination in its own right?
A. Yes. But to be very honest I would like to add some more ingredients to our offering, more meeting space, some large trade fair facility, a retail development like a shopping mall, some services related to the provision of health services, through these the airport could become even more of a destination than it is today.
The Circle at Zürich Airport is a good example of something we would like to do, it is a very large facility which they are trying to make it a destination in itself, the 'Made in Switzerland' branding, we would be happy to have those ingredients so we still have a way to go. We don't have a history of large shopping centres as they do in Germany, France and the UK so it is unclear how this kind of development would fare in the Netherlands.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport's AirportCity at a glance:
Schiphol Centre: Existing properties: Schiphol Plaza, Schipol World Trade Centre (WTC), Triport, Schiphol Building, Sheraton (430 rooms), Hilton (400 rooms) and CitizenM hotel.
In development: New Hilton hotel, redevelopment of Triport.
Schiphol East: Concentration on aviation, including maintenance, R&D, management, training and education
In total 50,000sqm of warehouses and 50,000sqm of offices.
Schiphol Elzenhof: 100,000sqm of office space.
Schiphol Southeast: Cargo World and Smartgate; efforts to improve accessbility. Concentration of cargo at Schiphol Southeast, growing to approximately 2-2.5 million tonnes per year by 2015.
