New industry association for industrial and logistics real estate.

Leader group in sustainability wants dialogue with government

The Arrow building in Venlo (developer: Prologis)

Positive reactions from the industry

The organisation was founded by and for parties who embrace the ambition to develop future-proof logistics and industrial real estate. The initiators behind Dilas are Joffrey Lagaunne (Proptimize) Bas Geijtenbeek (1530 Real Estate) Sander Breugelmans (Prologis) Eelko Brinkhoff (Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij) and Tim Beckmann (Intospace). Fifteen more parties have since joined the initiative. Dilas spokesman Tom Runhaar says the response from the industry is positive. “Companies and knowledge institutions can apply via the Dilas website,” he says.
Runhaar continues: “The establishment of Dilas comes at a good time now that there is debate going on in The Hague around a possible ́hard stop ́ on distribution centres. Better coordination between the sector and politicians is needed, which will help to better distinguish fact from perception.

The Rhenus-building in Tilburg (developer: Dokvast)

Knowledge essential for responsible policy choices

The urgency is strong. We find that governments still lack a lot of knowledge about how production and logistics chains actually function and where and how added value is created in these chains. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to make responsible choices and form supportive policies,” Runhaar said.
“Also, the pioneering developments and innovations within this sector are relatively unknown. While the sector is leading the way on topics such as energy and sustainability, for example. Pilot projects with smart energy hubs, large-scale energy generation, and storage and charging facilities for electric freight transport also prove that distribution centres can play an important role in the energy transition.”

Spatial quality through cooperation

Dilas also believes that spatial policy in the Netherlands is in urgent need of improvement. Runhaar: “Many people’s spectre is a kilometre-long succession of grey boxes along the motorway. Logistics and industrial real estate can very well contribute to a viable environment and functions such as living, working and recreation can very well go together. But then the building regulations on climate adaptation, sustainable energy, biodiversity and spatial integration in the Netherlands need to be sharper and tighter. This is where Dilas can play an important role.”
“The manufacturing industry and logistics are closely linked and indispensable for our society, but we don’t want to be bothered by them. Therefore, it is important that both are not forgotten in spatial plans and are properly incorporated. Our economy cannot function without manufacturing and logistics. Warehouses and distribution centres are needed to store the country’s harvest and our medical supplies, and deliver parcels ordered online. Increasingly, they also assemble semi-finished products, repair returned goods and add other values that seamlessly blend production and logistics. Dilas wants to use its knowledge to better fit this value chain into both urban and landscape environments and to inspire in areas such as energy solutions, sustainability, function blending and function stacking,” concludes Runhaar.