I mean, who actually opens the drawings in order to see if that is what they want? Nevertheless, as programme manager at Amvest, Schaap is still closely involved in the content of projects. He has unusual subjects in his portfolio such as sustainability and cooperating with corporations.
Schaap has a sharp eye for the city and everything that can go wrong in design and development. He likes to keep close to the end user because otherwise things go wrong. Take a look at the Witte Kaap on IJburg. Architecturally it is an absolute icon but it’s not a good building in other aspects. The apartments aren’t selling well so it would seem that an “iconic” building isn’t necessarily a good sales argument. Schaap: ‘It looks fantastic but what’s it like to live in? One of our senior citizen sounding board groups thought it was more like a prison. After all, we don’t build the city for the beautiful pictures in the Architectuur Jaarboek (Architectural Yearbook) do we?
According to Schaap, the battle in project development that has to be fought now is to also keep an eye on the user, to think as consumers. ‘I prefer to speak to the people myself. Take the Wibos*: senior citizens are horrified by the rules that they have to follow. They are mature adults, take them seriously. It’s the legislation that is most important now and if a sink unit is three centimetres too high then you lose your subsidy. It’s an absurd system.’ What this group of consumers does NOT want in any event is a senior citizen image which this quickly creates. What they would most like is to live in a mixed community. A mixed building requires something in the building’s appearance as well as practical solutions such as a part that has been specifically made for a younger target group in the technical sense. That’s not easy, but it makes or breaks the long-term success of a complex.
Murderous competition
Schaap finds conversations with user groups in the market research valuable and better than standard questionnaires with lists of questions. He is of the opinion that property development can still learn a lot from other industries. Take the car industry which is incredibly innovative. Why? Because the competition is so murderous they have to be. ‘The property market is completely stagnant as far as that is concerned. Firstly, it is a national not international market and we aren’t stimulated to be constantly smarter than the others. We can learn from this that it is good to focus on certain target groups and to base more on consumers’ emotions. Choosing a house is pre-eminently something in which emotions play a leading role.’ However, Schaap often finds the traditional target group mentality ‘too flat’. “It is too generalised with green, red and yellow worlds. You are placed in a corner but the descriptions remain very general. That’s why horoscopes are always right. You have to make the effort to delve deeper, get closer to the consumer. You can go a long way with a product that has a certain basic standard but where the consumer can make their own mark regarding layout, finish and appearance. There’s still a battle for us to win there.’
For Schaap this is where the absolute added value of a project developer lies. Private commissioning or collective private commissioning will nevertheless mainly remain a niche; you can’t make the increase in scale that is required for a city. Schaap points to the sometimes extremely unusual self-build houses on Rieteiland Oost on IJburg. ‘They won’t get rid of these easily because of their very specific features. They are made-to-measure for the first customer.’ The future of project development lies in offering a good standard combined with a place for the customer’s influence. Furthermore, Schaap thinks that consumers en masse aren’t specifically raring to have a go at taking on the risks of property development themselves and that’s without even considering the marital tensions that building one’s own house can cause. Schaap: ‘Project development is a profession and we are capable of carrying out that profession as well as controlling the financial risks effectively. But then the consumer’s input has to be real and not just a layer put on top. Make a ground plan that you can also do something with in the long-term and offer a kind of matrix of buyers’ options in addition. Then you can lower the starting price and let consumers choose the rest themselves.
Bringing the site to life
Schaap sees that the possibilities are still there even in this market. Some of our investment lease housing in the Westelijke Tuinsteden is being sold now and that’s going well. ‘Here it’s a case of complete houses that can be moved into immediately without doing anything and that also attracts a group of consumers. Everything is already there and nothing else has to be done. Clarity and also luxury.’ Providing an architect for accommodation where you can decide the layout yourself also helps a lot. 10 by 10 metre attic studios on the Westerdokseiland didn’t sell at all initially but when buyers could sit around a table with an architect to discuss the layout they went well. ‘People very often don’t know what to do with a space like that.’ As an investor Amvest always remains in an area. Experience that has been gained in one area can be applied to new developments. ‘I am always curious why an area does or doesn’t go well. We take the experience with us as an input for a new area development. What I have learned with this is the art of bringing a site to life and something else that’s important is looking for parties that you can involve as partners. Consider the redevelopment of Strijp R and what Piet Hein Eek means to that. We even altered our plans for this. A beautiful old factory has now been given a new purpose with an entrepreneur who ensures that something happens. You can’t do that based on the classic relationship between tenant and landlord. It’s also not premature to “plan” in a development plan in advance.’
Schaap’s opinion is that something went wrong with IJburg. The plots were carefully divided among the property developers but no further thought was given regarding how the area as a whole could come to life. Everyone did their own thing. ‘In boom times this isn’t such a problem with sales but it was a problem with the start of IJburg. There was a considerable dip in the market and it was only paying attention to the collective approach and giving community life a start that ensured that sales picked up. In those circumstances you have to take on everything and do things that may not be part of the standard repertoire but that help entrepreneurs to ensure that it is brought to life.’ Amvest found a sports school entrepreneur for its complex by the harbour and helped him with the correct permits, initial rents and such. ‘Someone like that is good at their own profession but knows less about matters such as permits. We can help each other in this way and that also applies to a lot more areas than just this. You can’t arrange something like that in a lease contract. We keep in very close contact with him. Yes, this will be a large part of our work in the future. We also helped Piet Hein Eek with problems with the permits. Area development isn’t just the technical aspect, constructing the houses and buildings; that will be OK. It’s about facilitating a growth process. Buildings have to be secondary to the area’s objectives. They have to fit in. You also have to be able to say no if a project isn’t suitable for the bigger picture.’
Flexible
Flexibility is of crucial importance for area development. Local authorities usually want to set everything in stone from the beginning in a development plan. Schaap: ‘The tendency to set everything down is difficult to change. It is prompted by what of itself is a legitimate desire for optimum legal protection of the citizens. It would be better to broadly outline residents’ legal certainty and regulate the minimum.’ Schaap expects that area development will mainly be a matter of intra-urban developments in the coming years. The pressure on cities will be high. ‘If anything is going to happen then it will be there: the type of area such as Cruquius in the Amsterdam Oostelijk Havengebied. Companies are moving away, there are residential areas around them everywhere and so they end up centrally located in the city and you can’t let those sorts of areas just waste away. ‘However, this type of redevelopment of municipal areas involves jumping through a lot of hoops. You can’t simply construct x number of houses or roll out an urban development plan, you have to start a careful, understandable transformation. For example, there is still demand in the city for better, more beautiful and/or bigger accommodation. We can make the quality transformation in housing here.’
Schaap considers Strijp in Eindhoven to be a good example of sustainable redevelopment. A plan wasn’t drawn up first but instead the limits were investigated. The plan was finally drawn up around a number of existing buildings and trees. ‘Noise levels, ground pollution, you name it, everything was taken into consideration. That is a different type of challenge for urban development planners – working with a connection to the existing situation. Furthermore, we have built so much flexibility into the plan that you can gradually take chances.’ So, broader planning. Take the Amsterdamse Structuurvisie 2040 for example. Many aspects of this are very detailed but little is said regarding who it all will be done for or which decisions will be made at macro level. The development of the city is a distraction from this. Plans will be tested against development plans which are now being drawn up based on the criteria in the Structural Vision. It is mainly dogmas that are set down and that results in inflexibility. Keep it open as much as possible and rather establish spatial rules such as permitted environmental impact, quality requirements, building heights, accessibility and such.’
Moving forward
For an investor it is important to create value in an area as well as in the longer term. Michiel Schaap: ‘You see that a number of investors such as Syntrus Achmea, BPF, Vesteda and Amvest are moving forward. It is important to be able to guide this in the beginning because you will have a problem in the end otherwise. In contrast with the corporations, neighbourhood management is a new phenomenon for us. We come from different sides; ourselves from value development and returns and corporations from social considerations, but we are all busy with the same thing.’ Together with corporations, that are no longer allowed to lease to the middle income groups, Amvest is busy trying to think of solutions for that ‘complicated sector’. ‘We complement corporations: they are better in the socio-cultural aspects and we are better with tight financial planning so that there are still returns available. Furthermore, we know what the market wants in this sector better and a number of corporations want that as well. It is a quest because rules are still a considerable hindrance. However, there is currently an ear for adapting the rules in The Hague, so now is the time to press on.’
Amvest is also busy opening up other sectors such as student accommodation. Schaap thinks that a return can be made on them but managing them is a different matter, where the specialised corporations can step in. The problem with housing for the mid-price range in Amsterdam is the price of land we are faced with now, which is the subject of extensive discussion. The price of land under an investor’s lease property is normally lower than that of a similarly sized, owner-occupied property. That isn’t a type of public support for investors but a fact that can be made clear in a transparent way. Schaap is glad to get his teeth into this: ‘There are certainly chances for opening the housing market and times are more than challenging for the developer with new collaborations and also new roles in some areas. The most important aspect of the profession is still to know the market well in the first place.’
(Source: www.gebiedsontwikkeling.nu, 23 mei 2011, interview Anne Luijten)