12 February marks the official construction start of Brighthouse - a new building for offices and laboratories - on Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. The new building will provide space for start-ups, entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and research institutes that want to establish themselves on the campus or are already located there and want to expand. Developments are moving fast on the campus and the expansion is necessary now that the existing buildings Villa Flora and Innovatoren are almost full due to rapid growth. The province and municipality of Venlo are investing 18 million in this building, which will be located behind the Innovatoren.
Rapid development
Deputy Hubert Mackus: "In 2017, we expressed the ambition to make the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo the 'place to be' for innovations in healthy and safe food, future farming and bio-circular economy. The construction of the Brighthouse is the next step within that development."
Five storeys
Ruud van Heugten, director Campus Vastgoed Greenport Venlo: "Due to rapid growth, we as Campus Vastgoed Greenport Venlo had to ensure new accommodation options in good time. To this end, we cleverly drew on experience at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, where two Brighthouses have been commissioned in 2019."
The Brighthouse in Venlo has five floors and is a copy of the Brighthouses in Sittard-Geleen. Ruud van Heugten: "Constantly reinventing the wheel is not innovative. Copying means lower costs, less chance of mistakes and faster construction. As a result, we can have this building available as early as mid-2021 and offer companies and institutions good office and laboratory space for rent."
Unique place for innovations
Saskia Goetgeluk, director Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo: "For the connecting role of the Brightlands Campus, it is important to add a new research building. The campus brings together companies and knowledge institutions in the fields of healthy and safe food, future farming and biocircular economy. This creates unique opportunities to jointly accelerate innovation, across the entire agrifood chain, focusing on consumer needs. With these facilities, the Brightlands campus will strengthen its position in the region, becoming an EU-regional and national magnet for research and innovation for large and small companies. We expect solid growth, both in innovations, R&D and in numbers of companies."
Business embraces campus
Erwin Boom, alderman of the Venlo municipality: "The arrival of the Brighthouse shows that the regional business community has also embraced Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and that all parties involved are confident that the campus will help determine the future of Venlo and the region."
