Developing KIT property – how a building becomes a knowledge hub

KIT from above

On a daily basis, KIT staff is traveling around the world, offering applied research and advice in the areas of health, agriculture, gender, biomedical research, laboratory reinforcement and intercultural learning. But over the last months we have been busy developing our monumental “home” in Amsterdam too.

One KIT – different activities

Working around the world, improving health and ensure equitable social-economic development as much as promote intercultural cooperation with our partners is what we do best. Mark Schneiders, CEO KIT: “Our output: – research, advice, training and education – is creative, context specific and evidence-based. In the past KIT received budgetary support by the Dutch government, in the last two years we reinvented ourselves as a self-supporting not-for-profit knowledge center. Acquiring up-to-date quality knowledge in areas like (international) public health, agriculture, gender, biomedical research and sharing our output is labour intensive. And the people we work with and for often come from less privileged regions in the world. Thus, to support the activities of KIT as a whole, we are keen to create additional profit in our property portfolio.”

Supporting knowledge, developing hospitality

Our landmark building, designed by architect van Nieukerken in 1926, is already shared with tenants like AMS and Tropenmuseum. The KIT building has been serving as a venue for conferences, lectures, weddings and parties for many years now. An additional asset is our hotel, built in 1963 to host volunteers and students coming to KIT. For the past 40 years this hotel has opened its doors to other travelers and tourists too. Schneiders: “We would like to open our facilities to more guests and organisations. We are therefore innovating and redeveloping our conference facilities, catering services, and took on the management of our hotel ourselves. We are supported by a specialised Hotel Group. The concept that is being developed actively reinforces the relation between the work of KIT around the world and what we offer our guests: a sustainable, no nonsense, pleasant, tailor made solution to their needs.”

Building a community

Schneiders: “KIT staff commutes passion and idealism. That matches well with companies and organisations with a view on sustainability, like (international) start-ups and young talented professionals. The hotel will operate in the dynamic and prosperous Amsterdam Hotel industry under the name Amsterdam Tropen Hotel, a four star hotel where sustainability and hospitality are key for travelers from around the world. In short: the next few years we hope to create a community around KIT: a dynamic knowledge hub and incubator for innovative sustainable development.”
Interested to learn more about KIT and the potential of working in our building? Visit our real estate & facilities website