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The economic impact of the No Net Land Take: An exploratory study of the construction, logistics and office development sectors
Sarah De Boeck
Senior Expert Real Estate & Territorial Development
"This study is an important step in understanding more about how economic sectors occupy open space and how we can find solutions to ensure these activities find their rightful place in the existing space."
The challenge
Open space, which is essential for health, food production, biodiversity and preventing climate change, is under growing pressure due to scarcity. The Flemish government aims to reduce daily land take to 3 ha by 2025 and zero ha by 2040. To achieve this, an understanding of how economic sectors use space is needed. Through trend research and focus groups with stakeholders from construction, logistics and office development, deeper insight into the current and future land take of these sectors is being gained through qualitative analysis.
The process & results
Within this exploratory qualitative study, IDEA Consult sheds light on a crucial issue: the future of space conservation in Flanders from 2040 onwards. We examine space needs and the impact of economic activities within the construction, logistics and office development sectors.
Across the three sectors, the strong economic growth of the past 10 years appears to have been accompanied by a large intake of space that will continue in the coming years:
- In the construction sector itself, land take is gradually decreasing through optimisation of current business sites, but is shifting to supplying sectors such as manufacturing, logistics and circular economy (here specifically: waste treatment).
- In the logistics sector, there is a growing demand for space in both international, national, regional and urban logistics that far exceeds the major efforts the sector itself is making for a more efficient use of space.
- The need for modern office space continues to grow, even if hybrid forms of working have become the norm among some office space users.
Possible solutions within the current growth paradigm include further optimisation of space. Accelerating the renovation and renewal of outdated production sites and office stock could contribute greatly to this. As well as a more rigid policy around locating the right company in the right location.