Adaptive reuse (AR) is becoming increasingly significant within the construction sector, particularly in mixed-use urban areas where adaptation is essential to meet circular economy objectives and evolving user needs. As existing buildings are expected to undergo multiple adaptations throughout their lifecycle, the complexity of such projects continues to increase. While previous studies have explored the complexity of the AR process and identified a range of contributing factors, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the application and significance of these individual factors.

The aim of this research is to develop a set of strategies to enhance the adaptive reuse process in mixed-use areas within the Netherlands. A final list of fourteen strategies determined to be most effective is proposed. The list can function as a checklist to support clients in making informed decisions and conducting contract documents.

To address the research questions, a literature review and a two-round Delphi study is employed. The literature review establishes the theoretical foundation, examining the concepts of adaptive reuse processes, strategy, strategic management, and effectiveness. This literature study is foundational to the initial compilation of a list of strategies relevant to AR. The Delphi study engages twelve experts across two phases. In the first round, a survey is conducted to preliminarily prioritise the strategies identified in the literature, followed by semi-structured interviews to further contextualise and enrich the findings. The second round involves a second survey to validate the prioritised list and incorporate additional strategies identified during the interviews. Among the experts there are multiple stakeholders from three completed AR projects in The Netherlands, to contextualise the findings.

This research results in an enriched, prioritised, and validated set of fourteen strategies. The list provides clients in AR with guidance on which strategies are most critical, when they should be implemented, how they function within the process, and which stakeholders are involved. All information is visualised by the means of the AR process.

Ultimately, the study offers insights into the effectiveness of strategies in adaptive reuse and delivers a list of strategies, compiled to enhance clarity and decision-making for clients. This information is to be used for agreements and to compile contracts with other stakeholders of the AR project. The list’s success is contingent upon collaboration and knowledge exchange, and it holds considerable potential to support future adaptive reuse initiatives when used in conjunction with complementary resources.

The Collaborative Library is a civic space for everyone, a place where individual growth contributes to collective well-being. This development is never solitary; it unfolds with and through others, by collaborating, learning from one another, and being seen.

Architecturally, this idea is expressed through visibility: open sightlines, layered spatial connections, and the transparent character of the building. The exposure of creative work further enhances this openness, allowing users to see and be inspired by the work of others.

In this way, the design encourages communities to actively participate and engage with the Collaborative Library as a shared space of learning, creation, and belonging.

The strategic management of real estate portfolios has become increasingly complex due to global challenges such as climate change, scarcity of raw materials, and changing organizational needs. For large-scale portfolios, such as those of the Ministry of Defense (MvD), these challenges are increased by strict operational requirements, financial constraints, and sustainability objectives. This thesis examines the role of the IFR construction method as a tool to enhance the flexibility and resilience of large-scale real estate portfolios.
The research follows a qualitative, exploratory approach. The central question is: To what extent does the F(lexibility) and R(emountability) in the IFR construction method provide a solution to the challenges of Defense real estate, such as political and economic fluctuations and increasing sustainability requirements? Interviews revealed that “flexibility” is treated as a broad, complex, and often ambiguous concept, lacking a shared definition among advisors, managers, and needs assessors.
Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders within the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RVB) and the Ministry of Defense (MvD) form the core of the data collection. It appears that ‘flexibility’ is interpreted much broader and more complex in practice than the original hypothesis suggested, ranging from product-focused physical adaptability to process-oriented standardization and rapid operational reconfiguration. This diversity exposed a clear gap between strategic ambition and practical implementation.
These insights have led to a reorientation of the literature study and the development of a new conceptual framework that maps the different dimensions of flexibility in relation to portfolio management. The framework places emphasis on the physical adaptability of buildings as a prerequisite for strategic flexibility, while showing that organizational capacity and TCO-based management are essential to unlock real value.
This framework is tested in a focus group to validate its applicability and relevance. The results not only provide a better understanding of the role of F and R in Defense real estate, demonstrating how IFR can offer strategic advantages in cost control, adaptive capacity, and material reuse, but also guide how circular building principles can be strategically employed in response to political, economic, and sustainability challenges. The study highlights that long-term benefits, financial resilience, operational response, and reduced material waste, emerge only when physical flexibility is paired with agile organizational structures and clear strategic vision.
The findings underscore the crucial role of circular building in achieving long-term resilience in real estate portfolios. Ultimately, the research shows that the strategic value of remountable construction depends not merely on flexible building design, but on integrated portfolio governance that embeds flexibility at organizational, process, and product levels.
This thesis contributes to the broader concept of circular economy by demonstrating how circularity can transform real estate management into a strategic instrument for resilience and sustainability.

Existing buildings are changing assets, altered in response to various external or internal triggers for change. Often, change can occur in the form of adaptive reuse – also known as building transformation. Therefore, promoting adaptability in transformation is necessary to cope with the inevitability of building changes. Building transformation is considered an effective practice contributing to the circular economy (CE) and building adaptability as a prerequisite for circular design. However, previous research pointed out that building stakeholders lack knowledge about the alignment between CE and adaptive reuse.
This study aims to provide building and real estate practitioners with a guiding framework for promoting circularity and adaptability in adaptive reuse projects. A quadrant research design was used in this study to develop and apply the framework in practice. The four components of this research are four stepwise studies, namely theoretical – an integrative literature review, empirical – multiple case studies, participatory – framework co-development, and actionable – framework implementation.
First, the integrative literature review contributed to theoretically conceptualizing the underlying concept of this research – the circular building adaptability (CBA), which brings together circularity and adaptability. Second, the multiple case studies contributed to extracting lessons learned about applicable CBA strategies in adaptive reuse and their enabling and inhibiting factors. Third, the participatory study contributed to co-developing a descriptive framework for CBA in adaptive reuse (CBA-AR). Finally, the action research study contributed to testing and improving the usability and effectiveness of the CBA-AR framework based on observing, acting, and reflecting on a case project.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) have worked to develop commercial real estate (CRE) indicators for official statistics. These indicators are considered essential in financial stability monitoring and may help contain the consequences of future crises or even prevent future crises. However, progress at NSIs to develop these indicators has been slow due to challenges like low observation numbers and high heterogeneity. This dissertation addresses these challenges by exploring data issues and suggesting methodological improvements.

The first three studies focus on data challenges regarding share deals and portfolio sales. Both are real estate trading constructions that are specific to CRE. The results show that share deals and portfolio sales significantly differ from the rest of the market. Therefore, under specific circumstances, CRE indicators could benefit from including these trading types. The final two studies focus on methodological challenges regarding index construction methods and the role of sustainability in real estate pricing. The results show that, by combining established techniques, it is possible to construct price indices that meet official statistics’ standards. Furthermore, the results uncover a complex relationship between sustainability and prices: while energy efficiency generally involves price premiums, others aspects like health and environment display a discount for low sustainable properties.

Overall, this dissertation contributes to the legislative framework that is currently being developed for EU countries to publish official statistics for commercial real estate and adds to the academic discussion by presenting innovative techniques for data analyses and index construction.

Sustainable development faces substantial challenges, with the built environment emerging as a major contributor to resource consumption. Office retrofitting, commonly known as changing the office fit out, is a common process in corporate real estate and accentuates these challenges due to its linear model of extraction, production, consumption, and disposal of building materials. This model leads to considerable waste and greenhouse gas emissions. This research examines the inefficiencies of the current linear model and explores transitioning to a circular office fit-out, which aims to minimise resource use and waste. The study focuses on the tenant-landlord relationship in corporate real estate, as these stakeholders are crucial for enabling circular fit-outs. The research question addressed is: “How can the tenant-landlord relationship facilitate the process from a traditional to a circular fit-out in office buildings?” Mixed methods, including literature review, case study documentation, and interviews, were used. What was found was that the relationship can enable circular practices if the stakeholders show positive behaviour, expertise, commitment, share information and communicate well, have a promoting business strategy around the fit-out product, and are pushed by society. Furthermore, the lease agreement showed to be crucial, and could enable circular practices even more than the actual fit-out design. Although these mentioned relationship determinants and arrangements are important, the research showed it is important to recognise the stakeholders individual responsibility towards circular practices. The research concludes with recommendations towards each stakeholder.

This research investigates the financial feasibility of the design of new office buildings for future residential conversion in response to rising office vacancy rates (8%) and a housing shortage of approximately 400,500 homes in the Netherlands. Conversion is understood as the transformation of a building's function while preserving its structure, offering potential cost, time, and environmental benefits. However, the technical, functional, and legal challenges of converting existing buildings complicate their conversion. Although most buildings will require adaptation in the future, designing specifically for conversion remains uncommon due to financial uncertainties.
Existing research has explored the technical and functional aspects of convertible buildings, but little attention has been given to the financial feasibility of the design of buildings with future conversion potential. This gap limits investors' ability to assess whether convertible building designs offer financial advantages. This research aims to bridge that gap by evaluating the associated costs and benefits of the design of convertible buildings and their impact on financial feasibility.
The findings suggest that while convertible buildings require higher initial investments – due to enhanced structural features and design costs – they significantly lower long-term vacancy risks, improving rental income potential and allowing for favourable financing conditions. Sustainability benefits may also yield premiums that enhance property values and reduce tax liabilities, though their realisation is debated. The convertible design approach permits a lower discount rate, mitigating the time value of money effects on future cash flows. Financial feasibility does not solely depend on whether a building is converted; most factors remain relevant regardless of if the conversion actually takes place. The research concludes that designing for convertibility reduces long-term risks and enhances flexibility in adapting to market changes, though its financial feasibility varies based on market conditions and investor profiles.
This exploratory qualitative research contributes to filling a knowledge gap in the financial aspects of convertible building design, offering insights for investors, developers, and owners of office properties. It makes use of literature review, interviews with different stakeholders and a sensitivity analysis in form of a DCF model. The generalisability and validity of the findings may be limited because of its geographic focus on the Dutch market, the qualitative nature of data collection, and reliance on assumptions in the sensitivity analysis.

Sufficient housing supply is one of the most significant issues in the Dutch housing market. The Dutch government aims to realise 15.000 dwellings a year by transforming vacant commercial real estate. However, a discrepancy can be noted between the number of buildings that developers have been willing to transform in the past decade and what the Dutch government deems feasible regarding the transformation of commercial real estate going into the future - a transformation dip. Next to that, office buildings with an energy label worse than C are not allowed to be used as office buildings anymore in 2023 unless they are renovated. This forms an interesting starting point as building owners are required to reassess the potential of the building and choose between different strategies, such as transformation, to prolong the lifespan. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to explore possibilities for bridging the gap between the number of buildings transformed annually on a national scale and the public transformation goals by applying a tool-the Conversion Meter- which aims to locate potential buildings in a city and asses their conversion potential. The Dutch city of The Hague is chosen as a case to apply this method, and the office stock with an energy label worse than C is chosen for the population. The following research question is answered during this thesis: To what extent can the number of office-to-housing conversions in the Netherlands be increased to meet the public goal of realising 15.000 dwellings through transformation a year? Buildings were selected out of an online real estate database using a set of preselected filters- office building in The Hague, with a minimum size of 3000m², not a listed monument and an energy label worse than C. 26 buildings were analysed, and it was determined that approximately 43% of the buildings analysed have a transformation potential based on the results of the Conversion Meter (9 out of 21 buildings-5 buildings discounted) and approximately 29% was deemed to have transformation potential based on the results of the Conversion Meter and the discussions with the expert panel (6 out of 21 buildings). In The Hague, more buildings could be found if smaller buildings are assessed too, as most of the buildings predicted to become economically obsolete (buildings energy label G) are smaller than 500m². Next to that, the normative approach of the Conversion Meter now discriminates against buildings in business parks due to a lack of facilities and location. However, as cities expand, some business parks have become engulfed by the city. The Binckhorst in The Hague is an example of a business park that will be transformed into a mixed-use area where buildings are found. Areas like these in cities provide great opportunities for adding more dwellings through transformation.

We have to change. We have to take a second look at our daily patterns. The construction sector is responsible for 36% of the world’s final energy use and 39% of energy and process-related carbon dioxide emission (IEA, 2019). 30% of this emission is due to building construction. Therefore, it is important to start to limit the carbon emission from construction processes. An efficient and sustainable way to limit the emissions is to develop buildings that are adaptable to any function or user, with the least effort and minor transformations to the building. Additionally, according to Manewa et al. (2016) buildings are continuously confronted with internal and external environmental changes to which they must respond. Those changes happen unpredictably and with many uncertainties. Buildings that are not able to react to those changes will be prematurely obsoleted, require extensive transformations, or need to be demolished, neither of which will result in a built environment that is sustainable (Manewa et al., 2016). Therefore, by not being able to adapt to the changing society and future demands, we are not building to last.

Even though several strategies have been developed and research has been conducted on the concept of adaptability, the transition from knowledge to implementation seems out of reach. Those studies mainly focus on the implementation of adaptability on the building level and not on the building as a “life cycle process”. Only a number of books and studies also examine the cooperation of the various parties in developing the proposed strategies. From this problem statement, the following research question is formulated: “What are the criteria for developing an adaptable building, and how can clients influence the implementation of these criteria in development projects?”. To answer this question, a literature review is conducted from which a list of adaptability criteria is developed. Additionally, the criteria are compared to existing Dutch cases through a case study with a cross-case analysis, and the roles and influences of parties involved in the development of adaptable buildings are established through interviews. The findings from the empirical research are used to develop an action plan which is validated by an expert panel. The action plan can be used by clients or other stakeholders as a guideline for developing adaptable buildings in the Netherlands. It can also be used to motivate and inspire other stakeholders or to start the discussion about the concept, and develop a more sustainable built environment.

For many years, the concept of adaptive reuse of buildings has been researched. A focus on heritage and specifically the implementation of circular economy frameworks is however relatively new. Adaptive reuse of heritage is often concerned a circular strategy for its material reuse. However, there are many more dimensions to circularity in adaptive reuse, ranging from socio-economic values in urban environments to buildings facilitating and stimulating the circular economy by their new functions. Urban manufacturing is one of the functions that can benefit of the added values of industrial heritage. In return, urban manufacturing can provide several values to its urban context and contribute to development of the circular city due to ongoing developments in this sector. The next generation of manufacturers can be well integrated in urban areas contribute to realising circular ambitions, but several principles should be applied to realise this and create balanced urban development. To date, integration of circular economy and adaptive reuse of heritage frameworks is limited and fragmented. An overarching conceptual framework for adaptive reuse in a multidimensional way is missing, and current research often avoids practical solutions and guidelines that can be used by developers and planners. This research aims to provide these frameworks to combine the potentials and values of both heritage and the urban manufacturing industry through adaptive reuse. The main research question: ‘How can industrial heritage facilitate the developing urban manufacturing industry?’ is answered by executing a literature review, interviews, a questionnaire, studying different cases of heritage adaptive reuse, and providing a new framework for assessment and development of industrial heritage for facilitating the urban manufacturing industry.

The increasing significance of the circular economy in the real estate construction industry is driven by evolving environmental, social, political, and economic factors. While there is increasing pressure for a national transition to a circular building economy, the sector continues to confront numerous challenges, risks, and uncertainties. To promote pro-circular decision-making among project management stakeholders, this research investigates how incentives need to be implemented in order to be an effective strategy to encourage project management stakeholders in making pro circular project decisions.

During the research an overall research strategy, the systemic design toolkit, has been used. This method integrates systems thinking with a human-centered, multi-stakeholder focus, by addressing the intricate social, economic, and environmental aspects of the issue at hand. The study comprises two sections: a theoretical segment employing quantitative research and an empirical segment employing qualitative research.

The theoretical phase explores the interorganizational dynamics that influence circular decision-making, delves into the roles and perspectives of project management stakeholders, and examines the concept of incentives. The empirical phase starts with semi-structured interviews to gain insights into the behavior, intentions, interrelationships, interests, and influence of relevant actors involved in decision-making processes. Subsequently, unstructured brainstorming and validation interviews are conducted to identify and develop effective incentives within the financial, social, and moral clusters.

The research findings provide empirical evidence that incentives can serve as a viable strategy for motivating project management stakeholders to make pro-circular strategic project decisions. These incentives are integrated into a comprehensive incentive scheme, outlined in the concluding section of the findings. Through the adoption of these incentives, stakeholders can be effectively motivated to embrace circular principles and actively contribute to the establishment of a circular building economy. Additionally, some key variables have been identified as influential factors in the success of the incentives: the involvement of supplying stakeholders and the targeted audience, as well as a thorough understanding of the rationale behind circular project rejection, the prevailing power dynamics, and the degree of stakeholder involvement throughout the various design phases.

The construction industry imposes significant pressure on the natural environment, making it essential to transition to the circular economy. A step towards this goal is the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, more specifically, heritage buildings. Adaptive reuse of heritage is a difficult procedure that seeks to maintain the qualities of historic structures while modifying them for usage in the present and the future.
The aim of this research is to identify what circular economy strategies are implemented in de adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, find out what barriers still exist, and how these can potentially be mitigated. This in order to help the transition towards the circular economy.
To achieve this, literature review will provide a better understanding of the terms circularity and adaptive reuse within the context of the built environment and heritage, the literature study will also offer the potential barriers for circular heritage renovation. Case studies will explore what strategies are already implemented in adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, and barriers are experienced in the process. Finally a focus group discussion will be conducted in order to find out how these practical barriers can be mitigated in order to move towards the circular economy.
The findings reveal that there is a gap between the strategies implemented in projects and the comprehensive understanding of circular economy . The majority of implemented strategies are related to sustainability, such as reusing and using circular building materials. Barriers to implementation include ambiguities, financial constraints, lack of experience, routine practices, rules and certification, as well as a lack of urgency and social acceptance. To address these challenges, the Circular Economy Strategies for Adaptive Reuse (CESAR) model is developed as a planning and assessment tool.
Furthermore, the study provides advice for stakeholders involved in adaptive reuse projects, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, early involvement of the contractor, and integration of circular economy requirements.

The construction industry has a significant environmental impact, consumes a large amount of scarce resources, generates a lot of waste, and causes a lot of emissions such as CO2 which contribute to global warming and are all reasons of great concern. A significant portion of these negative environmental impacts are caused by the building sector and attendant linear construction process. Developments with biobased materials as a circular strategy help encounter this. However, this implementation is still lacking in the building industry and the linear to a circular economy transition is still in the early stages. Moreover, real estate developers are struggling to make their business cases for circular projects financially feasible, as costs are a significant barrier. To research and understand how current circular biobased business cases are adapted and if they are future proof or use temporary measures, the following main research question is used: How are business cases adapted in order to create financially feasible and circular biobased housing developments? To answer this question, a literature study, case studies and interviews are done with the aim to gain insights into current complications and possible solutions in the business case of biobased housing developments. As well as gather perspectives from identified stakeholders & experts on these or alternative opportunities to help and speed up the transition to biobased houses. Results show that the business cases were not drastically adapted to fit the circular strategy, but temporary emergency measures were found to help realise the projects. These were: less profit for the parties involved, investors paying extra and for construction stored carbon credits, lower land price or more focus on sustainability and less on price by municipalities, subsidies, and building only partly with biobased materials and partly with e.g. concrete and bricks. It can be concluded that the traditional business case is not fitted for biobased construction as a circular economy strategy, which also contributes to why the wider necessary shift to such strategies stays out. But also that developers and other parties are willing and working on limiting the environmental impact of the building industry.

While urban development is essential to keep our cities alive, existing buildings and structures are essential for communities to thrive. Moreover, this development needs to minimise construction waste and pollution, which means that it is illogical to demolish existing buildings that contain valuable resources. However, transformation is often more expensive than new construction. Additionally, in academic literature a hiatus exists regarding the social side of
sustainable development. Therefore, this research sheds light on the effectivity and costs of social sustainable measures in architecture to facilitate their implementation by answering the following research question: “How is social sustainability included in the practice of adaptive reuse architecture and how does it impact the costs?“
The results show several social sustainability benefits regarding adaptive reuse. However, the results confirm a hesitance amongst practitioners regarding its execution as well, thanks to unpredictable costs and a lack of expertise. Therefore, evidence suggests reducing uncertainty, by means of minimising change in favour of social sustainability. In turn, social sustainability and adaptive reuse issue several economic benefits that promote their further integration in development of the built environment, but are in need of further research.

Campuses have recently drawn attention from governing organisations in the Netherlands and are identified as promising types of office- and university development on national, regional and company levels (Wiebes, 2019). Millions of dollars are invested in campuses by local and regional governments in order to attract businesses and jobs towards the respective regions and to stimulate innovation and Research & Design (Baggerman, 2020; Gruijthuijsen, 2020; Knop, 2020; Wiebes, 2019). However, the title ‘campus’ is not protected nor has an undisputed definition and therefore is subject to inflation (Magdaniel, De Jonge, & Den Heijer, 2018). This leads to the contradiction that public money is invested in initiatives that can differ in various ways and therefore remain unclear in how they should be managed successfully and what they deliver for their users. Researches state that clustering people and businesses leads to more innovation (Belso-Martínez, Mas-Verdu, & Chinchilla-Mira, 2020; Bolter & Robey, 2020; Glaeser, 2010; Guzman, 2019). Campus developments rest on the same principles. However, when approaching a campus from the demand side a campus should deliver the user preferences demanded by real estate users. This in order to attract them to the physical location and play a positive role in incubating and facilitating the respective real estate users (Ng, Junker, Appel-Meulenbroek, Cloodt, & Arentze, 2020; Remøy & van der Voordt, 2014). In order to reduce uncertainty surrounding campuses for policy makers, managers and users, these developments have to be redefined on what they are, what they intend to deliver and if that what is supplied matches the demand. Therefore the following main question will be answered; What are the perceived benefits campuses deliver for its real estate users? This will be answered by making use of literature study covering the definition and theoretical benefits. Secondly a case study towards four different campuses will be executed. This case study will consist of semi-structured interviews with both start-up and scale-up companies and the respective campus management teams in order to establish what benefits are delivered by locating on a campus. Followingly these results will be analysed and compared in order to build conclusions.

The Dutch government implemented strict regulations to reduce the spreading of the virus and highly encouraged travel restrictions and to work from home if possible. As a result, organizations were forced to adapt and implement remote working. These implications became the norm for close to two years. Consequently, the needs and preferences of employees and employers have changed indefinitely. Employees displayed a positive experience with remote working, which has left organizations questioning whether their current real estate aligns with the desired workplace strategy. Many CEOs during the pandemic said they would cut down their office space by 69%. A year later, this has already changed to 21%. However, 51% of those CEOs also said they would invest in collaborative space. The majority of media and research directs its focus on large corporates and leading commercial landlords. Consequently, there is more uncertainty about the role of the future physical office for middle-smaller organizations (SMEs). SMEs make up 67% of the Dutch workforce and are essential for the Dutch economy. Despite their importance, SMEs have remained understudied in the ongoing experiences of the pandemic. Moreover, SME resource constraints likely limit the support for their future workplace transition. Creating a workplace that supports the organization thoroughly is a complex process. Therefore, this study aims to research how organizational components are used by Dutch SMEs transitioning to a hybrid workplace strategy.
Preliminary interviews and literature provided insight into the propositions in each organizational component on how Dutch SMEs are transitioning to form a proposition. This help structure the basis for which next, a holistic multi-case analysis was used to examine the SME in each organizational component in a hybrid workplace strategy. Lastly, a proposition performance analysis to understand how each component performed.
The research findings provided insight into SMEs' adoption of organization components in their hybrid strategy. The main motivator for SMEs to keep using a hybrid workplace strategy is to support the employee's desire. Employers are hesitant to provide complete flexibility and remain involved to ensure that their employees continue to use the office as their primary workstation. In addition, employers seem worried about losing their organizational sense of belonging and desire more collaboration. Furthermore, SMEs focus their resources in either their conventional office or in the home office. Very realized thoroughly included both locations.
To ensure SMEs implement a successful hybrid workplace strategy and utilize their input resources as much as possible, SMEs need to prioritize an employee-orientated approach in each organizational component. Furthermore, adequate physical resources are essential in both the conventional office and the home workplace. While the physical environment is critical, focusing on the behavioral environment will most impact people's productivity.

In a time of increasing awareness regarding environmental and social concerns, urban area developments have been framed within ambitious goals which require the collaboration of developers and other parties. The complexity behind pursuing sustainable goals brings several challenges to the feasibility and financing of projects since private actors are mostly profit-driven and therefore, their business rationale tends to collide when taking decisions that link private profit and public values. The existing criteria to assess sustainability, mostly at an urban level, and the difficult quantification of these criteria into potential benefits for developers have been traditionally determined as seeming incompatible. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how sustainability is impacting the decision-making of area developers is required to achieve the right balance between long-term sustainability and short-term profitability.

In that sense, there is an existing gap between sustainability assessment methods and decision-making processes that needs to be filled to ease the transition towards a broader definition of value into the business rationale of developers. In that line of reasoning, market-driven rating tools for sustainability assessment represent an opportunity to analyse how their use is impacting the urban redevelopment management, providing empirical examples of how the gap with decision-making processes can be minimized. These findings, aims to evaluate the implementation of BREEAM-NL Area in The Netherlands and add knowledge on how the use of it as a methodological framework can have an impact in the decision-making process. That could potentially stimulate developers to take a more holistic approach, enhance innovation within their decision logic and embed sustainability within their corporate strategies.

Due to the changing role of the private sector in the Dutch land development process, real estate developers are increasingly involved in realising the interests of the direct surroundings of their redevelopment projects. To incorporate the seemingly unprofitable space-use in their project, developers increasingly opt for mixed-use real estate. The chosen mix of space-uses directly impacts the business case and the area. However, the relationship between these two is unclear, leading to the formulation of the research question: How can mixed-use generate value for both the area and the redevelopment business case?

The aim of this research is to make explicit the mutual value generated by the mix of space-uses in redevelopment projects. It attempts to fill this knowledge gap through analysis of literature, exploratory interviews with field experts, and an embedded multiple case study. The non-holistic case study method consists of the individual descriptive analyses of three cases, among which two phenomena are studied as units of comparison: added value to the area; and added value to the business case. These phenomena are substantiated through literature and compared among the cases through a cross-case analysis. The exploratory interviews provide context for the interpretation of case results.

The study identifies several benefits of mixed-use and the incorporation of particular space-uses. However, many of the benefits for the area do not end up with their investor. Moreover, assessing the extent of the benefits is difficult as they cannot be measured quantitatively, and stakeholders interpret their value differently. Additionally, mixed-use real estate falls outside of the asset classes of investors, and investor attitude towards the product type varies due to identified risks, but benefits in return are not assessed appropriately.

By broadening the business case alternative value streams can be included using which the business case profits from the additional space-uses. Meaning qualitative benefits are also considered. The benefits from mixed-use can be categorised in primary, secondary and even tertiary value streams. The first of which is the direct impact of the additional urban function through compensation of the investment costs. The secondary value stream is based on the indirect value added through synergies between urban functions, increased marketability of the primary space-uses, and loosened project constraints. Furthermore, the study finds that some of the benefits for the developing party actually lie outside of the business case, thereby providing a tertiary value stream of positive exposure of the firm and strengthened relationships with public parties.

What results is a comprehensive understanding of the mutual character of benefits that result from incorporation of a mix of space-uses in real estate objects. Their opportunity to generate value is not mutually exclusive to either the area or the business case, as project value is based on the vibrancy of the area it is situated in.

The COVID-19 pandemic is posing an unprecedented global challenge to social and economic life. This resulted in many corporations struggling for survival and exploring alternative strategic paths (Seetharaman, 2020). Additionally, these remote-work experiences triggered the rethinking of their future office use and space (Cushman & Wakefield, 2020). The strategic execution of the real estate portfolio and the alignment with the business strategy is considered crucial for organizations in order to create maximum added value (Scheffer, Singer and Meerwijk , 2006). As the pandemic is expected to create a new normal and changed the demand for office space, this indicates that the current corporate office portfolio is expected to not be aligned to their future demand. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide large corporations within different sectors within the Netherlands with a strategy to realign their real estate portfolio to their future post-pandemic priorities. This in order to maintain competitiveness and create a sustainable built environment by addressing the mismatch that could develop overtime. An empirical research is conducted, in which the changes in demand of nine large Dutch corporates with multiple locations in the Netherlands is explored. From this the most relevant priorities are selected to develop a realignment strategy for. The selected priorities of these case studies are: ‘support culture’, ‘increase flexibility’, ‘increase productivity’, ‘increase sustainability’ and ‘increase technology’. As the need for a post pandemic flexible solution has been expressed extensively, flexibility is considered the starting point for this realignment strategy. From this perspective, three different integrated flexibility solutions are developed that reduce core space of the office portfolio. These are ‘working from anywhere’, ‘external co-working’ and ‘internal co-working. Additionally, an assessment framework has been developed to define what combination of solutions contributes most to these selected priorities. Furthermore, the applicability of these solutions have been defined based on portfolio and company characteristics. At last, this strategy is applied on a case portfolio, thereby implementing the two solutions ‘working from anywhere’ and ‘internal co-working’. For this case is concluded that in the short term post pandemic, the amount of core office space will likely not be down- or upsized due to existing leases, but instead a repurposing towards collaboration space within existing offices is proposed. Thereby emphasizing the importance of proactive realignment even more.

Changing consumer shopping trends in the last two decades and the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-2021, has led to more structural vacancy in supportive monofunctional retail areas. Since supportive monofunctional retail areas are less resilient on the long term compared to retail areas in city centres, integrated redevelopment of such areas is required to prevent further decay and add new value. Dutch municipalities majorly rely on market forces to stimulate redevelopment. Nevertheless, this does not result in desired outcomes. Different researches conclude that the local municipality has to fulfil a leading role in this redevelopment in order to achieve the desired outcome. This research focusses on how this leading role is defined and how the corporation between the local municipality and private property owners can be improved. Therefore, the following research question is formulated; How can the municipal leading role be defined during the redevelopment initiating phase and what improvements can be made in the decision-making process between the municipality and private property owners of retail space for the redevelopment to mixed-use areas? This research consists of a literature research and an empirical research to answer this question. The literature research provides an investigation of the initiative phase of project development, possibilities in organisational structures and the definition of decision-making. The empirical research consist of a case study considering a decaying monofunctional retail area with redevelopment in prospect. Stakeholder interviews are used as the main data source to investigate the project approach, organisational structure and decision-making process between the municipality and private property owners. The most important finding is that a key element of the municipal leading role was the proactive approach to the development of a masterplan for the case area in order to stimulate private stakeholder involvement.