The City of Almere is a young city that welcomed its first inhabitants in 1976. It is located about 25 kilometres east of Amsterdam in the Province of Flevoland, about 160,000 hectares of new land that was reclaimed from the IJsselmeer freshwater lake (the former Zuiderzee) in a feat of Dutch water engineering – some areas actually lie 15 metres below sea level. (Visit the Nieuw Land Heritage Centre to learn more about the creation of the Twelfth Province of the Netherlands).
At present, the City of Almere has more than 175,000 inhabitants and is the fastest growing city in the Netherlands, with about 6,000 people moving here each year. The city intends to eventually grow to a population of 400,000 over the coming decades.
There are 10,000 companies established within Almere’s borders, providing approximately 70,000 jobs, of which half are filled by local residents. There are also 50,000 Almere residents who commute to work within the Amsterdam Area. In a sense Almere is a suburb of the City of Amsterdam, with which it has a close and synergetic relationship, but Almere is also a city in its own right. Almere enjoys excellent accessibility – via the Port of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, road and rail. The cost of commercial real estate, purpose-built and with potential for growth due to plenty of space, is relatively low, presenting another incentive for companies to establish themselves here.
The City of Almere’s urban planning is careful and precise, striving to achieve balanced growth in living, business and leisure functions. Over the coming decades, Almere City Council’s goal is to create 5,000 new jobs per year. Though much of this growth can be generated by Almere’s own business community, inward investment by companies elsewhere in the Netherlands and from abroad also play an important role. A priority for the City Council is maintaining the investment climate at the cutting edge, for example connecting all homes and businesses to a fibre-optic communications infrastructure, of which the first phase is already operational.
Key business sectors for Almere are life sciences, agriculture, construction, food engineering and ICT. As an evolving and youthful city, Almere is also expanding its educational facilities, and intends to attract more higher education institutions.
Large international companies with operations in Almere include IBM, United Services Group, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Equipment Europe, Beiersdorf NV, Yakult, TYC, and LG Electronics.
Get in touch with the Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office at afio@ez.amsterdam.nl or see www.afio.amsterdam.nl for more information.
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