Going Dutch: British private developers and the discovery of European property markets 1970-1975

Abstract

This contribution investigates the arrival of British developers on Dutch soil during the 1970s from a transnational perspective. Doing so will not only reveal how British expertise and financial strength led to a maturation of the Dutch property market, but will also shed a new light on the economic, cultural and political ties between two European trading partners. There is much academic and public debate today about the invasion of global cities by foreign property investors, yet empirical investigations of historical predecessors to the current situation are virtually non-existent. This contribution puts Britain's business relationship and interactions with Europe and the Netherlands central. This will reveal why British developers became interested in European property in the first place, how they viewed the market and its players based on national characteristics and stereotypes, and why British involvement eventually became heavily contested on the local level. This will lead to a more comprehensive and multifaceted narrative of British involvement in overseas property affairs during a period of growing rapprochement between Britain and the EEC, and adds to our understanding of both Anglo-European relations and local sentiments towards international influences in a more general sense. The focus of the article lies on attitudes and mindsets, as these ultimately facilitated the transnational flows of capital and knowledge exchange.

Building ‘Holland’s Tallest Office Block’: The Transnational Origins and Troubled History of a Speculative Office Development in Post-War Rotterdam

“…In addition to the economic downturn, the electronic revolution and automatisation of clerical work further threatened the profitability of the Dutch office market. Contrary to the property sector's confident projections, it transpired that the supply of office space in the Netherlands was actually far greater than demand (Verlaan 2021). Rotterdam was no exception.…”

“…Financially, Europoint was the result of a joint venture between a local transport company in Rotterdam, Overbeek, and a British property company, Town & City Properties Limited. Town & City were at the forefront of a wave of British property investment in the Netherlands that reached its peak in the early 1970s (Verlaan 2021), when it was estimated that British firms were responsible, for example, for 25% of development activity in Amsterdam ( 'British and European Property', 1974). Rotterdam -as will be seen -was another major focus of activity.…”

“…By the early 1970s the firm had built striking new office blocks in prestigious locations in Paris and Brussels, but it was in the Netherlands that Town & City concentrated most of its European development activity. The Netherlands, or 'Holland', as it was universally referred to in Britain at this time, was attractive to British developers for a number of reasons (Verlaan 2021). The country was seen as culturally and commercially close to the UK, with many shared traditions of business and capitalist enterprise: 'They think the same way as we do', The Financial Times property correspondent put it (O'Halloran 1970).…”

“…In general, the Dutch investment climate was more conservative, making it more difficult for developers to find long-term finance, and planning regulations were stricter. In comparison to its overseas counterpart, the market was very much in its infancy, and at the start of the 1970s, the Netherlands was judged to be ripe for exploitation by British property firms (Verlaan 2021). British business papers such as The Financial Times began to take a keen and detailed interest in the commercial potential of the Dutch market, reporting precisely, for example, on the square footage of existing office space, current rental prices, and projected future demand in Rotterdam (Van der Heijden 1970).…”