Key in urban provisioning

In Amsterdam Havens-West, the innovative distribution center CTPark Amsterdam Logistic Cityhub, with both logistics and production space, will be completed in early 2023. This marks the construction of the Netherlands' first large multi-story city hub. Construction company Vrolijk is responsible for the turnkey realization (Design & Construct). "From CTPark Amsterdam City, the Amsterdam city center can be supplied in a sustainable way," says project leader Steffen Jansma.

The city hub is designed to shorten the urban 'last mile', the last kilometers to the final destination; this should address the increasing congestion and lack of space in and around the agglomeration. At a location along the North Sea Canal and the A10 ring road, CTPark Amsterdam City offers space for new forms of '100% emission-free transport over land and water'. CTPark Amsterdam City is fully circular and features a large warehouse area, mezzanine, high-quality office space and a two-level distribution hall with 10.5 meters stack height. This is fully accessible by trucks. In addition, the Havens-West site offers space for approximately 1,600 covered parking spaces, 200 loading and unloading docks and its own 360-meter-long quay.

'Emission-free transportation'

The city hub enables fast, clean logistics to and from Amsterdam and is of particular interest to the e-commerce sector and parcel services. In addition, CTPark Amsterdam City offers production space for parties in construction and offline retail, among others. With 220,000 m² of "sustainable solutions, users have all the freedom to choose the space they need," according to the website. Former owner Wim Beelen of demolition giant Beelen Group developed the 9-hectare former ADM site and is also the creator of the implemented last-mile solution. The first pile was struck in April 2021, and commissioning is imminent.

Construction company Vrolijk took on the project according to Design & Construct. "This means that CTPark Amsterdam City is fully developed based on the design and delivered turnkey," Jansma says. "The fact that CTPark Amsterdam City is completely two-story makes this project unique. Furthermore, the schedule is extremely tight, with a large proportion of concrete construction. For this reason, we have set up three construction hubs in the immediate vicinity, which means that production can always move forward two weeks. Some 400 to 500 men are running on the construction site, with a full staff of Bouwbedrijf Vrolijk - including safety experts. The basic work has been completed. We are now working on setting up the building and the
last dots."

BREEAM 'Excellent'

CTPark Amsterdam City consists of a precast concrete substructure with a steel structure above the drivable second layer. The two-story office section (with access to a roof garden) is also made of precast concrete. Jansma: "There were 27 ships with concrete elements transported for this purpose. The facade finish consists of sandwich concrete elements, and further of sandwich panels finished with aluminum composite." Of particular note is the sustainability rating (BREEAM 'Excellent'), which is high for logistics real estate. "About 16,000 solar panels and 10 wind turbines will be installed on the roof; the roof garden will include trees, plants, a small park, a terrace and a sports field."

A dynamic building management system, which can be broken down functionally across multiple users, is used to maximize energy efficiency. Combi levellers are also used in the loading docks, allowing both small commercial vehicles and large trucks to land. Also, the complex has elevators for cargo bikes, as well as charging points for electric boats and trucks. Thus, the owner envisions CTPark Amsterdam City becoming the hub for a multimodal, sustainable supply of downtown Amsterdam.