More than seventy football fields, as large, the expansion place of ASML at the Brainport Industries Campus in Eindhoven must be. The first of a total of 20,000 employees can go there in 2028. ASML wants to grow considerably with both cleanrooms and office buildings on the new campus. This is apparent from a preliminary design that was published by the municipality on Wednesday.
The plans are ambitious, because there is still no solution for the nitrogen problem and the overcrowded electricity grid.
ASML wants to grow considerably in the Brainport region in the coming years. It was no longer a secret that it also dropped the high-tech eye on a large arable landscape at the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) in Eindhoven. The company ultimately wants to create 20,000 workplaces on that agricultural land. This doubles the number of ASML employees in the Netherlands.
Cleanrooms and office buildings
The first plans were presented on Wednesday. The new campus will soon look a lot like two lungs. On the left, the side of Eindhoven Airport, there is room for cleanrooms, places where machines are worked in a dust -free way. Office buildings must be built on the right, the highway side. In between, the river Ekkersrijt continues to flow.
It is not yet known what the buildings will look like and how much it will be. It is clear, however, that the buildings may be a maximum of thirty meters high due to the air traffic of Eindhoven Airport.
No separate exit
Two parking garages and bicycle parking facilities for 4200 bicycles must be built on the site. A separate exit for ASML is not yet available. There must be a brainport bus line to prevent the roads around the campus from clogging up.
Almost a year ago, the municipal council gave the green light for the arrival of ASML to the BIC site. Both financial director Roger Dassen of ASML and responsible alderman Stijn Steenbakkers are happy that the first plans are now on the table. “A lot has happened in the world in the last ten months. At that time the importance of the high-tech making industry and that of ASML has really only increased. Not only for Eindhoven or the Brainport region and the Netherlands, but also for Europe,” says Steenbakkers.
Still major challenges
Yet the biggest challenges are still not tackled: the overcrowded electricity grid and the nitrogen problem. “There are promising solutions in sight,” said the alderman without wanting to let go of more content. “There must be structural solutions from The Hague.” Steenbakkers hopes to be able to present those solutions within a few months.
The municipality of Eindhoven does not yet have all the land. It is already the owner of 80 percent, other plot owners are still being talked about. If the negotiations run out of nothing, the owners can eventually become expropriated.
Neighbors are allowed to join
The financial director of ASML has faith in the plans: “Of course, further steps are needed to actually realize our future growth. We have faith in the close and good cooperation with all parties involved to complete this together.”
ASML does not want to respond to the first sketches. The plan is still far from definitive. On 21 and 22 May there were information meetings where the plans are discussed with ‘the neighborhood’, such as a number of residents in the area, neighboring municipalities such as Oirschot and Best and companies such as Eindhoven Airport.
The alderman hopes that there will be a definitive sketch before the summer. The plans must then be submitted to the council on 9 September.