Nieuw Hembrug: een beginplan voor de gebiedsontwikkeling Nieuw Hembrug

Background 'Hembrugterrein 'The 'Hembrugterrein' is a very polluted former facility/site of the Dutch Ministry of Defense. It is situated on a very strategic location in-between Amsterdam and Zaanstad in the North of Holland. The site belongs to the State. Due to this pollution possibilities to redevelop the area are limited. The owner of the site wants to redevelop the area in collaboration with private parties. Some private parties see opportunities in redevelopment of certain areas. Both owner and private parties don't know where and how to start. The aim of the State is to sell the area to private parties for an optimum sum of money. During Spring 2008 the 'Gemeenschappelijk Ontwikkelingsbedrijf van het Rijk' (GOB) was appointed to put energy in reaching this goal. The GOB started in collaboration with the Province of North-Holland and the Municipality of Zaanstad with the redevelopment of this problematic site. By the end of 2009 it is expected to hand over the whole terrain to the market. Besides this the GOB wants to earn back historic costs and the costs of cleaning up the polluted soil. Bottlenecks During the redevelopment process some bottlenecks occurred. At first different goals are set by the involved public parties. A second problem is lack of trust in both process and content of the redevelopment. General support is lacking. A third thing is that insights in the most important risks are unclear. Some information is kept secret because some parties don't take responsibility for that. A fourth thing is that there is influence of a lot of Departments of the State. This causes trouble because only the GOB should represent the State in this redevelopment. Exactly this was the reason for creating the GOB. But it won't work out that way. These issues are the cause of a standstill. There is lack of a clear strategy and a very difficult collaboration between public parties. How to start? It is difficult to foresee the future. Therefore a plan to start is made. Three scenarios are described: Laissez Faire (1), Quick and Dirty (2) and Value Capturing (3). The first two scenarios describe a continuation of the current situation and its overall consequences. The third scenario is the recommended proposal. Scenario 1 is the situation as it is now with no major breakthrough. At the end of 2009 still nothing has happened, the site is not sold. This scenario is the worst-case scenario in which the GOB loses trust and the site is lost forever. Resulting in the fact that it will never be open to public anymore. Scenario 2 is the scenario in which the whole site will be sold at any cost to the market at the end of 2009. Even if cleaning up the soil has not fInished yet. Hereby risking claims of private parties and risking great media attention. Furthermore there is a chance of endless negotiation rounds. This because the conditions and price of selling the site are unclear. The third scenario is the scenario in which value is created. After this value capturing the site can be sold. This selling is possible by selling shares from the just established area development corporation. The process is cut into three phases: A, B and C. While using a value capturing strategy rapid value will be created. This strategy is only possible when the public parties choose to invest in the area. During phase A the public parties create insights in the most important risks and more important take responsibility for that. In phase B an area development corporation is established. This will be a Public Limited Company (PLC) under Dutch Law. This company gives assignments to private parties to assist with the redevelopment. The private parties have explicitly no share in this corporation. When the conditions and price for selling the site are clear the GOB sells its shares to a public or private party. This is the start of phase C. Consultants and private parties who were active during phase B cannot buy shares of the area development corporation. Conclusion In the decision making around the Hembrug development process no choices are made. Because of this, the process tends to aim at scenario 1 and 2, which are worst-case scenarios. The advice is to make a choice. If a choice/consideration is made, this study recommends scenario 3: Value Capturing. With this scenario the desires and goals of both public- and private parties can be reached