Tech Lane Ghent: paragon of public-private partnership
The area development Tech Lane Ghent is an example of a public-private partnership with many partners. The project includes not only the redevelopment of a former blackpoint site into a 35-hectare regional business park; it also involves dealing responsibly with the scarcity of open space in Flanders, strengthening the urban and economic network and creating space for some 2,000 jobs.
Eiland Zwijnaarde is strategically located about 7 kilometres south of the centre of Ghent, in a future beacon on the motorway between Brussels and the coast. The site, between the Ring Canal, the Upper Scheldt and an old tidal arm, will be home to smart logistics activities and research and development companies. The project company nv Eiland Zwijnaarde prepared the site for building and set up a working method for selling or issuing the plots. Themes such as sustainability, alternative energy generation and attention to a green framework are central to this. In the meantime, a logistics hall of 18,000 m² has been built and VIB has set up its headquarters and a bio-incubator on the site.
International sustainability label
Eiland Zwijnaarde is a candidate to become the first business park in Belgium to be awarded the international sustainability label ‘BREAAM’. BREAAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a measuring instrument recognised in Europe as the reference for assessing the sustainability of area development. The quality mark measures and assesses the sustainability ambitions and performance of an area according to six categories: management, synergy, resources, spatial development, welfare & prosperity and area climate. Eiland Zwijnaarde already achieved the ‘interim certificate’: an important step. That evaluates the impact of and sustainable strategy behind the project.
Campus zone
Meanwhile, the development of the campus zone on the southern part of Eiland Zwijnaarde has started. The City of Ghent, Ghent University and PMV are developing a business park aimed at spin-offs linked to (research groups of) Ghent University. There will be a real landscape park, a green lung of about 17,000 m² with space for meeting and relaxation. Students will be asked to contribute to the filling-in and design with a grandstand, an amphitheatre and pavilions.
PMV’s role
The area development Tech Lane Ghent is an example of a public-private partnership with a wide variety of partners: the city of Ghent, the urban development agency SOGent, the province of East Flanders, the Provincial Development Agency of East Flanders, Alinso nv, Vlaamse Waterweg nv and PMV. PMV acts as a facilitator in this cooperation. To this end, on the one hand it assumes a financial role, in particular by contributing venture capital and providing subordinated financing to make it easier to obtain the necessary bank funding. On the other hand, PMV brings its expertise through the deployment of its employees who specialise in the various facets of an area development process.
The project in numbers
38 million euros investment for site preparation (offered on real estate market)
Creation of approx. 2,000 jobs
220,000 m² to be developed
Other partners
PMV is putting its weight behind the area development of Tech Lane Ghent together with the city of Ghent, the urban development company SoGent, the province of East Flanders, the Provincial Development Company East Flanders, Vlaamse Waterweg nv and the private partner Alinso nv.
