The first design of the ASML expansion location in the northwest of Eindhoven was presented on Wednesday. According to the city council, it is an ‘un-Dutch large plan’, with a site the size of about sixty football fields. What now follows are consultation procedures with stakeholders in the area. ASML aims to welcome the first employees in 2028.
The fact that the Veldhoven high-tech giant wants to expand in Eindhoven was decided about ten months ago. In the northwest of the city on the Brainport Industries Campus 3, 4, 5 and 6, 20,000 new employees of the chip machine manufacturer will soon be working. The municipality of Eindhoven and ASML have now presented the first sketches for this location in an urban development plan.
On the west side of the site, the side of Eindhoven Airport, new cleanrooms will be built. On the east side, the side of the A2 motorway, the offices of ASML will be built. There will also be two parking garages and bicycle sheds for 4,200 bicycles. The new bus connection, the Brainport line, should help prevent the roads around the campus site from becoming congested in the future. There will be no special exit from the motorway, as the High Tech Campus does have.
There will be footbridges between the east and west sides of the site, because both sides are separated by the Ekkersrijt stream, which has great natural value. The stream is a so-called ecological connection zone, which means that it connects different nature reserves with each other.
Currently, about 80 percent of the land is already in the hands of the municipality. In order to acquire the remaining land, talks are being held with the owners. “The municipality has the preferential right to the remaining plots,” according to Eindhoven alderman Stijn Steenbakkers (Brainport).
Keeping up the pace
According to Steenbakkers, there is a need for haste in the development of the area. “The importance of ASML and the high-tech manufacturing industry has only increased in recent times,” he says, referring to the rapidly changing and uncertain developments in the world.
“The publication of the preliminary plan is an important step. Of course, further steps are needed to actually realise our future growth on the Brainport Industries Campus. We are confident in the close and good cooperation with all parties involved to complete this together,” responds Roger Dassen, the CFO of ASML. The company aims to welcome the first employees on the campus in 2028. This will happen in phases and not all 20,000 employees at once.
Step-by-step
The design that is now available is certainly not the final design, both ASML and the municipality emphasise. In order to apply for the building permit, various conditions must be met. One of those conditions is a participation process. ASML will be discussing the plans with various stakeholders in the area in the coming month. The area has hardly any residents. The discussions are therefore with companies, nature organisation Trefpunt Groen and also neighbouring municipalities Oirschot and Best are allowed to have their say.
Solutions around nitrogen and the overloaded power grid are being worked on hard, according to Steenbakkers. A separate effort is being made for this from The Hague. The alderman could not go into the content of what these solutions are.
The intention is that the plans will be sent to the Eindhoven city council before the summer. A decision must be made on 9 September, after which the alderman wants to take the next step in December with an environmental plan.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
