Flanders is heading for a structural shortage of industrial parks. The recent Space Requirements Study in Flanders by Voka shows that barely 554 hectares are immediately available for new economic activities today. That is only 6% of the 9,537 hectares of industrial parks that are currently not or are being used improperly. And the trend is unmistakable: the available active supply has shrunk by 70% over the past ten years. If this decline continues, the entire supply will be exhausted within four years.
Moreover, large, contiguous plots are increasingly rare: in 9 of the 15 Flemish reference regions, not even a single plot larger than 5 hectares is available. Only Limburg is an exception, with more than half of the active supply in Flanders and a remarkable share of larger lots
The shortage comes at a bad time. Flanders still has a strong economic dynamic. According to the study, the gross area of industrial parks in use is rising by an average of 259 hectares per year. This growth follows almost one-to-one the increase in real added value in industry, wholesale, transport and logistics. Based on this trend, an additional space demand of 4,100 hectares is expected by 2040, and even 6,700 hectares by 2050.
This is apart from the additional space requirements created by new social and economic challenges. The transition to a circular economy requires more space for storage, processing and reuse. Reindustrialization and reshoring reinforce the demand for strategically located sites. Climate measures such as infiltration facilities or green buffers, on the other hand, mean that the same activity takes up more space than before. And European regulations, such as striving for zero net space use by 2050, make the puzzle extra complex.
On paper, there seems to be space. Flanders has 9,537 hectares of industrial parks that are currently not or are misused — often for agricultural or residential purposes. But only a fraction of them are actually available or developable today. The study therefore makes a distinction between:
But the report highlights that the latter figure is rather hypothetical. Many lands are zoned but not suitable, such as a plot in a nature reserve or with mobility problems. Moreover, the characteristics of these areas often do not match the demand: they are too small, too fragmented or poorly located.
“The challenges are huge. But with the right knowledge, partners and vision, every spatial constraint also has an opportunity.”
The scarcity of space is more than a planning problem: it slows down the economy. Companies find it difficult to expand, to start innovative processes or to strategically relocate. This leads to inefficiencies, delays in investments or even moving abroad.
In addition, Flanders scores weaker compared to its neighboring countries. In Wallonia, the range of immediately available plots is twice as large as in Flanders. Northern France has recently provided more than 700 hectares of additional sites for logistics and “gigafactories”. In all these regions, industrial land policy is more active, more flexible and better tailored to economic Nodenvoka space requirements study...
Even the way in which available land is advertised is lagging behind. Where Wallonia and France use accessible and informative platforms (such as WalSpace or France Foncier+), the VLAIO database for Flanders remains fragmented, incomplete and not user-friendly.
According to the study, it is inevitable that new grounds for business will have to be allocated. Even if all the maximum potentially available areas are activated — which is extremely unlikely — there will still be a shortage of at least 700 hectares by 2050. In more realistic scenarios, the shortage even rises to 4,000 hectares. And if the circular economy actually causes a doubling or tripling of space demand, that figure could rise to 14,000 hectares.
That is why the report calls for an integrated industrial and space policy:
The space that Flanders assigns to activity today is not a purely technical issue. It decides whether our companies can continue to grow, innovate and become more sustainable; and whether Flanders maintains its economic position in Europe. The clock is ticking. Because those who leave no room for activity are limiting their future — literally and figuratively.
In that field of tension, the market also plays a crucial role. Innovative players such as March, specialized in commercial real estate, can play a leveraging role. Thanks to their in-depth knowledge of spatial bottlenecks and economic needs, they succeed in making new opportunities visible and achievable. Think of activating dormant sites, supervising conversions, or creatively intertwining functions in urban environments.
March is not a classic broker, but a proactive mediator between policy, owners and entrepreneurs. By specifically matching supply and demand, with an eye for sustainability and efficient use of space, March actively contributes to a more resilient and forward-looking interpretation of our business park landscape.
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