Accolade completes its first park in the Netherlands. This facility will be home to renowned U.S. company CooperSurgical®, a global leader in fertility and women's healthcare

The park is located in Roermond, not far from the city of Venlo and its 100,000 inhabitants. The park, which grew out of the site of a former gravel factory, comprises two buildings with a total area of 43,000m². The value of the building, without considering internal modifications and equipment, is nearly EUR55 million. “We are pleased to have been able to bring our first Dutch project to life on the outskirts of Venlo. This region is considered one of the most important for supplying the Netherlands and the rest of Western Europe, mainly due to the excellent transport infrastructure and rich industrial heritage. I’m confident that this project marks only the beginning for us here,” remarked Milan Kratina, Accolade CEO.

Where solutions are developed for healthcare professionals and patients

The 18,000 m² building will now be home to U.S. company CooperSurgical, which has been at the forefront of new technologies for more than 30 years, empowering healthcare providers to deliver rapid and effective treatments to women, babies, and families when they need it most. CooperSurgical will use the facility as a distribution hub to support its EMEA and APAC regions. The distribution facility will consist of an office, a warehouse, and training rooms. 

“Our new distribution hub incorporates several features to minimise its environmental impact, promote the biodiversity of the surrounding area, and enhance the well-being of our staff working there. The park meets other key criteria including its strategic location close to the German and Belgian borders, and the excellent transport connections by road, air, rail, and waterways. Our new base in Roermond will be an amazing visualisation of the growth we have enjoyed at CooperSurgical. This facility will allow us to grow and develop even more in the future,” said Roy Wagemans, Senior Manager in Global Distribution & Logistics at CooperSurgical

This marks Accolade’s first time working with this particular company. “We are always happy when we can meet the diverse and often specific needs of our partners. Thanks to our previous experience with companies in the medical field, we were able to provide solutions for a range of detailed requests, such as varying the temperature in different parts of the building,” added Kratina. The tenants are due to take over the building this spring.

The second building, with an area of 25,000 m², has been leased by GXO Logistics, a global leader in the logistics sector. The tenants are scheduled to move into the premises during the first quarter of this year. This site was also a turnkey project for these tenants and will serve as a distribution centre.

Like all parks in the Accolade portfolio, the Roermond logistics site in the Netherlands will aspire to the highest level of BREEAM sustainability certification. An environmentally-friendly approach was employed during construction, utilising prefabricated construction elements, thus minimising the amount of waste created on site – 80% of the waste created was processed and recycled.

The park is also anticipating the installation of photovoltaic panels on the building’s roofs, meaning that the energy produced will be used by the tenants. Parts of the complex will also serve as charging stations for electric vehicles, along with bike parking and green spaces, which will increase the park's sustainable credentials and support local biodiversity.

A Dutch logistics hub

After Slovakia, Poland, Spain and Germany, the Netherlands represents the fifth foreign market in which Accolade operates. This expansion has helped the company strengthen its presence in Western Europe. “Investing in the Netherlands is the logical next step in diversifying our portfolio towards Western Europe. The Roermond project follows modern complexes in the not-so-distant German towns of Bochum and Alsdorf. Our long-term goal is to provide first-class, sustainable infrastructure for modern businesses across Europe. I’m delighted that we have entered a dynamic and evolving market which offers ideal conditions for further development,” elaborated Kratina on the expansion into the Netherlands, adding that the group is interested in growing its Dutch presence further, and is mapping out potential acquisition opportunities to that end.

The Roermond logistics park is situated close to the German border and within easy reach of the industrial and commercial centres of Düsseldorf and Cologne. The city of Venlo is also considered a gateway to the international ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

“Since 2005, the region has been rated as the most important logistics region in the Netherlands nine times. The conditions are ideal for further development. A big selling point for companies is that more than 46 million customers are within a two-hour drive. Due to these factors, our site is also an ideal place for third-party distribution and logistics, which is key for success in the era of global e-commerce expansion,”explained Kratina.

The region just outside Venlo is home to more than one million inhabitants and intersects a dense motorway network – the A67 from Dortmund to Antwerp, the A73 connecting Venlo with Amsterdam, and the A52 to Düsseldorf in Germany. Two shipping terminals on the river Meuse offer excellent transport links to the rest of Europe. A domestic container terminal with a capacity of 12,000 TEU per month is located ten minutes away from the park, not to mention the nearby railway terminal. In addition, four international airports are located within a 60-minute journey: Eindhoven, Düsseldorf, Weeze, and Cologne.