Two years ago, it was decided that the European medical organization, EMA, would relocate from London to Amsterdam. Today, the EU institute got the keys to their new building in the Dutch capital.
The decision to relocate the organization from London was made in 2017, once the implications of Brexit became clear (or at least, once it became clear that the implications would not be good). The new location of the organization was chosen from a selection of 19 cities. Amsterdam and Milan got the same number of votes, but happily for us, the Dutch capital won out.
New office construction went well
The new office, in Amsterdam Zuidas, was constructed on time and on budget. It cost 225 million euros to build, a figure that includes 20 years of maintenance costs. The maintenance costs are expected to be earned back by the EMA through rents from the building.
Is the EMA’s presence in Amsterdam a good thing?
There is a good reason that the Netherlands fought so hard to have Amsterdam be the EMA’s new headquarters: and that reason is jobs. In London, the EMA employed 900 people directly. Only 170 of these people elected to stay in London and resign- the rest have already followed the agency to their temporary office in Amsterdam Sloterdijk. However, the eventual economic impact of EMA’s relocation will be far more impressive than new jobs for 170 people in the Netherlands.
1550 new jobs will be created
It is expected that the relocation will eventually add 1550 jobs to the Dutch economy, because other companies and organisations will pop up around the EMA, as they did in London, according to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Spot. These organisations could include research institutions, companies and social organisations in the health sector. Furthermore, there could be up to 36,000 business travellers attracted to Amsterdam each year as well.
New office fully operational by January
Even though the EMA will get the key to the new office today, their employees will continue to work at the temporary office at Amsterdam Sloterdijk until next year. The new building will be fully occupied by January 20th, NOS reports.
What other organizations and companies should relocate from London to Amsterdam? Let us know in the comments below.
Feature image: stevepb/Pixabay
