System for empty industrial and commercial buildings – Flemish government

Narrative :

This project is accomplished in partnership with KUNIGI for VLAIO.

The inventory of vacant and neglected commercial premises is the responsibility of the cities and municipalities in our region.  With the development of a data exchange platform, Vlaio wants to simplify and optimise the inventory of vacant/commercial properties in order to develop a more stimulating and favourable policy with regard to vacant commercial space and obtain additional workplaces on the market, in particular for the realisation of ‘industrial nodes’ and the good management of scarce space on commercial sites. Our joint effort comprised:

  • The identification of all relevant sources that may give rise to a suspicion of vacancy, the metadata related to these sources, how this information can be obtained/retrieved, a proposal for dealing with possible GDPR related issues.
  • Identification of the information needed to carry out an optimal inventory process, including contact with the owner, information that can be used to grant exemptions, how this information can be collected, linked, etc.
  • A proof of concept that ensures that municipalities can consult, link, complete and export all this identified information (for their territory) in a permanent way to applications within the VO but also, if necessary, to other tools that can be part of a municipal workplace supply and demand policy (municipal CRM system, Geoloket, bizLocator, etc.)
  • Valuable options for the governance (management…) of such a data exchange platform. Determining which information can also be consulted by third parties at a given time or in which way third parties can also take over the role of municipalities, e.g., inter-municipal utility companies or holiday management organisations.

Our touch :

  • Co-creation in partnership
  • Connecting: carry out extensive workshops and interviews with stakeholders to assess functional requirements, data needs and data processing requirements
  • System thinking: develop an objective assessment framework to determine empty buildings
  • Digital development: research data architectures that could be applied to develop a suitable data platform
  • Design thinking: delineate necessary proof of concepts to test architecture and technology
  • Develop a vision: define a road map for further research and tests, system development and business development