In the second part of the 20th century, following the growth of sectors such as technology, pharmaceuticals, and services, the North-West Europe area saw a shift towards more diversified economies, with the emergence of industrial business parks. Despite being at the heart of the economic development, they have been putting increasing pressure on land and the environment, taking up 15 to 20% of the settlement area. Often located in suburban areas, near major highways or train stations, these highly paved (80-90%), sealed surfaces are vulnerable to overheating and therefore contribute to increased heat stress and heat islands in urban areas.
To act upon this, the Interreg North-West Europe IB-Green project aims to make existing industrial and business parks more climate resilient by implementing climate adaptation measures. By mitigating heat stress and improving air quality in urban areas, the partnership is looking to bring about healthier living and working conditions for businesses and municipalities. Seven industrial parks located in five countries within the North-West Europe area will serve as pilot sites for climate adaptation measures to be tested.
Scroll through the slide show and discover what innovative measures will be tested near Dublin, Bruxelles and Lille.
Sandyford, Dublin
The Sandyford Business District is located close to Dublin, in Dun Laghaire Rathdown County. It is an impressive hub boasting over 1,000 companies, 26,000 employees and home to 5,500 residents.
The project’s objective is to here convert an 8,000m² sealed area into a multi-functional green space in order to optimise links between a new green space and the smaller existing green infrastructures.
The measures envisaged by the project include transforming the sealed areas into parks and implementing green and blue infrastructure. Increased green infrastructure will contribute to decreasing heat stress, enhancing biodiversity and enabling rainwater retention. It is also expected to bring about environmental benefits and a positive social impact on employees and residents who suffer from minimal green infrastructure in the area.
©Sandyford Business District|Drone view of the Sandyford Industrial area
Zellik, Brussels
©David Martin|Aerial view of an industrial area
The Zellik industrial and business park was built during the 1970s and is located in the municipality of Asse, which is part of the urban area of Brussels. This site hosts 72 enterprises employing more than 4,000 people. Due to its high degree of pavement, the area is vulnerable to heat stress and more specifically, to the formation of urban heat islands.
To counter these negative effects, the IB-Green project is planning to strategically modernise the Zellik industrial park into a “Green Energy Park”. This translates to concrete actions such as planting resilient species of trees and shrubs, having biodiversity rich grasslands, creating unpaved low-maintenance walkways together with outdoor work and meeting spaces and improving the water drainage systems.
The main aim of these actions is that of overcoming the still prevalent view of profitability when designing industrial and business parks. The measures foreseen in Zellik will show that an ecological perspective could serve multiple benefits like, for example, the fact that enhanced biodiversity goes hand in hand with social impacts, without being detrimental to economic efficiency.
The project also seeks to create and use synergies of adaptation measures with renewable energy. By the end of the project, Zellik plans to function as an ecological corridor between two bordering Natura 2000 habitats. The adaptation measures are also meant to inspire other IBPs in Flanders, for instance the Flux50 network including 12 industrial business park operators and municipalities.
Seclin, Lille
The Zone Industrielle de Lille-Seclin was created in 1967 in the south of Lille, in the municipalities of Seclin and Noyelles-lès-Seclin. It is one of the largest business hubs in the Hauts-de-France region, turning into a unique site where 250 companies and 8,000 employees concentrate diverse activities like IT engineering, transport, metal processing, distribution, training, trade, mechanics.
The high level of economic activity results in heavy goods vehicle traffic, logistics, roads, and employee commuting, making the business park poorly adapted to climate change and increasing the consequences of heat waves and heavy rainfall.
On this site, the IB-Green project is aiming to push for better rainwater management and consequently, rainwater retention. The measures to be implemented include the construction of greenways and renaturation of sealed surfaces, together with the development of rain gardens on public land. This will benefit Seclin water supply and less pressure will be put on water sanitation plants. There are, however, challenges that come with it. As this industrial park is located over a source of drinking water for Lille Metropolis, particular attention will be put on avoiding damage to groundwater and to respecting environmental regulations.
Finally, this pilot is important for its transferability potential. These measures could be taken up by 26 other municipalities hosting 10 industrial and business parks under the responsibility of Lille Metropolis project partner.
© La Zone Industrielle Lille-Seclin|Drone view of the Seclin Industrial area
A bright future for industrial and business parks
©Wila Bonn|Example of a recreation area on company premises
Bringing climate adaptation to industrial areas is a crucial part of the IB-Green project. Through cooperation, the project will pave the way to a changed mentality around industrial parks and will strengthen the capacities of stakeholders, such as companies, planners or municipalities, to use the climate adaptation potential of industrial business parks. It starts with transforming existing industrial and business parks to make them more climate and heat resilient by implementing green and blue infrastructure.
The ambition is that innovative measures implemented in these different sites will support the development of the IB-Green toolbox that can be taken up by local authorities and business park managers across NWE and beyond.
"Implementing green and blue infrastructure has ecological benefits for municipalities and private businesses: by unsealing roads, planting trees or improving rainwater retention, biodiversity is improved, and the negative effects of climate change are reduced. Just as important are the social benefits: reducing heat stress and increasing green landscapes makes it more comfortable for residents but also employees, for instance if they have access to an outdoor, green space for a lunch break."
Climate Alliance, Lead Partner of IB-Green project
Key figures:
- 11 partners
- 6 countries: Luxemburg, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France
- Cooperating from 2023 to 2027
- Budget: € 8.9 M