Op de campus
The building on Campus South offers space for scale-ups who want
to stay on the campus. It is close to their network and
with university facilities within easy reach.
@ Sam Rentmeester
Alongside Yes!Delft, the Mecca for start-ups, a new building was completed in early March: Next Delft. It is intended for scale-ups, companies that are ready for the next phase.
Text Marjolein van der Veldt
The centrepiece of the building is the atrium, with an
eight-metre high tree as the eye-catcher.
With 250 start-ups, scale-ups, businesses, field labs and research institutions, campus is buzzing. But even the city centre offers little suitable office or manufacturing space. As a result, growing start-ups are forced to move to other cities, haemorrhaging knowledge and innovation from Delft. Next Delft is set to change that. On Campus South, the building offers space for scale-ups that want to stay on campus, close to their network and within easy reach of university facilities.
Living room
The bustling heart of this four-floor building is its atrium. The glass roof lights up the open space that features an eye-catching tree, some 8 m in height. This place is intended for informal workspaces and exhibitions and features an auditorium and conference centre.
“This is the heart of the building”, says Ellen Elschot, property and community manager from a.s.r. real estate. “Open to everyone, to work or to drink coffee.” This differs markedly from its neighbour, incubator Yes!Delft, where outsiders are welcome by appointment only. “Next Delft is the living room for the southern part of campus, a public place where knowledge sharing is encouraged.”
‘THE HEART OF THE BUILDING IS OPEN TO EVERYONE’
Het atrium
Makerlabs
Around the atrium, four rooms have been built for companies that use heavy machinery. “‘Maker labs’, where there is small-scale production of new products and experiments with innovative technology”, explains Elschot. Anyone taking the stairs to the first floor – a healthy lifestyle is promoted in the building – is met by a mixture of offices and rooms for manufacturing. “The second and third floors have been fully fitted out as office space.”
Property and community manager Ellen Elschot.
Next Delft is freely accessible,
anyone can work there.
NEXT Delft is the result of the close collaboration between the ASR Dutch Science Park Fund and TU Delft and is funded in part by subsidies from the Municipality of Delft and the province of Zuid-Holland. Bird Control Group, Delft IMP, Honest AgTech, Nextdriver, CarbonX and Flexous are moving on to NEXT Delft from the start-up hubs YES!Delft and RoboHouse. The Delft start-ups Cuurios and The Future Mobility Network are also relocating to Campus South.
With eight scale-ups and TNO’s Buildings, Infrastructure & Maritime division,
almost all of the building (10,000 m² in size) has been let. Elschot is not surprised. “Demand on campus for sustainable office and manufacturing space is huge.” So huge in fact, that the design of Next Delft already factored in an extension of a further 10,000 m². Preparations for the second phase, to be completed in 2024, are now fully underway.