Amsterdam Builds a €103 Million Building That Parks Cars, Hosts Ajax's Neighbours, and Shelters the Homeless - All Under One Roof

Standfirst

Next to the Johan Cruijff ArenA, Amsterdam is replacing an ordinary parking lot with something far stranger and more ambitious: a single building that parks over 2,000 cars and 700 bicycles, carries a rooftop sports park the size of six football pitches, houses a winter shelter and clears the ground for thousands of new homes and Ajax's new training campus. The city has now awarded the construction contract, worth just over €103 million, to Max Bögl Nederland.

Introduction

Cities running out of land tend to solve the problem in one of two ways: build up or build cleverer. Amsterdam, wedged between a football stadium, a concert arena, a motorway and a fast growing new neighbourhood, has chosen the second path in a fairly dramatic way. On a site currently occupied by surface parking north of the Johan Cruijff ArenA, the city is constructing the Smart Mobility Hub, a building that does the work of a parking garage, a sports centre, a public transport interchange, a winter shelter and a piece of urban glue, all stacked into a single structure.

The Municipality of Amsterdam's engineering bureau has now concluded the contract to build and maintain the Smart Mobility Hub for the next 15 years, awarding it to Max Bögl Nederland B.V., the Dutch arm of the German construction and engineering group, following a restricted competitive procedure. The contract is valued at just over €103.4 million, against an estimated ceiling of €100 million set when the tender was launched.

Why This Contract Matters

This is not simply a parking garage tender. It is the opening move in one of southeast Amsterdam's largest area transformations, a project called De Nieuwe Kern, "the new core", which will eventually bring thousands of new homes, offices and public space to a stretch of land currently used mostly for event parking and old sports fields. The Smart Mobility Hub has to go first, precisely because it frees up the land beneath the existing surface parking for everything else the city wants to build, including an expanded training campus for AFC Ajax, "De Nieuwe Toekomst."

The building's design is also a statement about how European cities are rethinking car infrastructure. Rather than treating a car park as dead space that serves one narrow purpose, Amsterdam is asking a single structure to flex across uses depending on the hour and the season: commuter parking on a Tuesday morning, event overflow for the ArenA or the Ziggo Dome on a Saturday night, a rooftop sports park for local residents every day in between and a warm place to sleep for homeless people during the coldest months of the year.

Contract Timeline

Contract Overview

The Municipality of Amsterdam's Ingenieursbureau (Engineering Bureau) ran a restricted procedure, a two stage process in which interested firms first qualify to participate before a shortlist submits detailed tenders, to select a contractor for the realisation and 15 year multi year maintenance of the Smart Mobility Hub. Two tenders were received, one of them from a micro, small or medium sized enterprise and all submissions were electronic. Max Bögl Nederland B.V. was declared the winner, with its own bid valued at just over €103.4 million, marginally above the tender's own estimated ceiling of €100 million.

The award structure combined a price criterion, the total tender sum, with several quality based criteria to be assessed through a descriptive technical design document and, at the final "Best and Final Offer" stage, additional EMVI (economically most advantageous tender) quality sub criteria covering compliance with environmental, social and labour law obligations and a formal integrity declaration.

Key Contract Details

Project Scope

The Smart Mobility Hub combines three functions in one structure: a multi modal mobility hub at ground and lower levels, offering parking for cars, bicycles, taxis, coaches, kiss and ride drop off traffic and additional public transport capacity around major events; a rooftop sports park of roughly 40,000 square metres, replacing the football pitches of the existing Sportpark Strandvliet and adding facilities for skating, three on three basketball, a BMX and skate "pumptrack," and an open air fitness and movement area; and, on the ground floor ("plint"), a mix of commercial and social facilities, including a winter shelter for homeless people during cold months.

According to earlier public design information, the building is expected to offer more than 2,000 car parking spaces and around 700 bicycle spaces, along with charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and shared mobility. The hub sits directly beside the Johan Cruijff ArenA and Strandvliet metro station, within five minutes' walk of Bijlmer ArenA railway station and forms the first phase of the wider De Nieuwe Kern area development connecting Amsterdam Zuidoost to the rest of the city. The site's construction directly enables the relocation and expansion of AFC Ajax's training complex, "De Nieuwe Toekomst," on land the parking structure currently occupies.

About the Contracting Authority

Gemeente Amsterdam, Ingenieursbureau is the City of Amsterdam's in house engineering and infrastructure delivery bureau, responsible for procuring and overseeing major public works projects on behalf of the municipality. Structured as a regional authority under Dutch law, the bureau manages large, technically complex urban infrastructure contracts, of which the Smart Mobility Hub, spanning mobility infrastructure, sports facilities and social services under a single roof, is among the more architecturally unusual examples currently under way in the city.

About the Organisations Involved

Max Bögl Nederland B.V., Winning Tenderer: 

Max Bögl Nederland is the Dutch subsidiary of Max Bögl, a large German construction, engineering and infrastructure group with operations spanning transport infrastructure, precast concrete manufacturing and complex structural engineering projects across Europe. Registered as a medium sized economic operator and based in Amsterdam itself, the company was selected from a field of two tenderers to deliver both the construction and the 15 year subsequent maintenance of the Smart Mobility Hub, a scope that combines heavy structural engineering with a long term facilities responsibility, reflecting the building's multi functional design.

Rechtbank Amsterdam, Review Organisation: 

The Amsterdam District Court is designated as the review body for this procurement, providing the formal legal channel through which any unsuccessful bidder could challenge the award. Its role is limited to judicial oversight and it had no part in the technical evaluation of the tenders.

Procurement Analysis

Amsterdam's choice of a restricted procedure, rather than a fully open tender, reflects the scale and technical complexity of the project: pre qualifying a shortlist of contractors before requesting detailed, costed proposals reduces the burden on both the city and bidders when a project's specifications, a multi use structure combining parking, sport and social infrastructure, are this unusual. Only two tenders were ultimately received, a relatively narrow field for a contract of this size, suggesting the technical demands of the brief limited participation to contractors with genuinely relevant large scale structural and multi disciplinary delivery experience.

The award criteria structure is a hallmark of Dutch "EMVI" (best value) procurement for complex works: alongside the headline price, bidders had to submit a descriptive Technical Design document addressing their proposed structural system, column positioning, load bearing material choices and floor systems, verified against the city's own reference design and underlying technical specification documents. Additional EMVI quality criteria, along with formal declarations on environmental, social and labour law compliance and an anti collusion integrity statement (the "Model K" declaration), were reserved for submission only at the final Best and Final Offer stage, a structured approach designed to filter out weaker bids early while reserving the most sensitive compliance and quality assessments for the final round.

Additional Procurement Facts

Two tenders were received in total, both submitted electronically, with one originating from a micro, small or medium sized enterprise. The project is confirmed as partially or fully financed with EU funds and is covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. No strategic procurement objectives, such as specific green public procurement or social value targets, are formally recorded against this lot in the notice, despite the project's evident sustainability and social inclusion dimensions (the winter shelter, the rooftop public sports facilities and the broader climate adaptive urban design referenced in the project description).

Market & Industry Perspective

Large scale, mixed use infrastructure projects of this kind sit at the intersection of several distinct construction disciplines, heavy structural parking garage engineering, sports facility construction and social infrastructure fit out, which naturally narrows the field of contractors capable of bidding competitively. Max Bögl's background in complex precast concrete and infrastructure engineering, combined with its established Dutch operating base in Amsterdam itself, positioned it well for a project requiring both structural sophistication and long term local maintenance presence.

It is also notable that an earlier design phase "bouwteam" contract for this same project was awarded separately to a different Dutch contractor, working alongside architecture firm cepezed, according to earlier public project reporting. That distinction between an initial collaborative design phase and this later, separately tendered realisation and maintenance contract is a common structure in complex Dutch public works: the team that shapes the design is not always the same team that ultimately builds and maintains the finished structure.

Economic Significance

At €103.4 million, the Smart Mobility Hub construction and maintenance contract is a significant piece of public infrastructure spending, but its economic value extends well beyond its own price tag. By consolidating parking and mobility functions into a single, efficient structure, the project frees up a large tract of land currently occupied by surface parking for new housing, sports infrastructure and area development, land that would otherwise remain locked into a single, low intensity use.

For a city facing an acute housing shortage, converting underused parking land into space for thousands of new homes represents a meaningful, if indirect, economic return on this contract, well beyond the value of the building itself. The project also supports continued large scale event activity at the Johan Cruijff ArenA and Ziggo Dome by preserving flexible parking and coach capacity even as the surrounding area redevelops.

Future Procurement Opportunities

With construction targeted for completion by January 2028 and a subsequent 15 year maintenance term attached to this same contract, the immediate scope of work is now locked in for close to two decades. However, the wider De Nieuwe Kern area development, encompassing thousands of new homes, commercial space and additional public infrastructure across a roughly 190 hectare site involving multiple landowners including the municipality, Dutch rail operator NS, AFC Ajax and private developers, will generate a long pipeline of further tenders over the coming years, spanning housing construction, road and utility infrastructure and public space design.

Suppliers with expertise in modular or flexible use building design, rooftop sports and recreation infrastructure or integrated social service fit outs should watch for further contracts tied to this same area development programme as it progresses beyond the mobility hub itself.

Opportunities for Suppliers

Specialist subcontractors in areas such as sports surface installation, EV charging infrastructure, smart parking and access control systems and social service facility fit out (relevant to the building's winter shelter component) may find opportunities beneath Max Bögl's main contract as construction proceeds. Given the project's location beside two major event venues, suppliers of crowd management, signage and wayfinding systems tailored to high volume event traffic may also find relevant openings as the hub moves toward operational readiness ahead of its 2028 target date.

What Businesses Should Watch

Three developments are worth tracking. First, whether construction stays on schedule for the January 2028 completion date, given the technical complexity of integrating structural parking, a rooftop sports park and social facilities within one building envelope. Second, how quickly the freed up former parking land is brought forward for the promised AFC Ajax training campus expansion and new housing construction, since that is the area development this project is specifically designed to unlock. Third, how the wider De Nieuwe Kern programme's tendering pipeline develops over the coming years, as this mobility hub is explicitly framed as the first phase of a much larger neighbourhood transformation.

NetherlandsTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This contract is a clear illustration of a trend gathering pace across land constrained European cities: treating car parking infrastructure not as a single purpose necessity but as a flexible, multi functional urban asset that can carry other public functions on top of and around it. Rather than commissioning a conventional parking garage and a separate sports facility and a separate social services building, Amsterdam combined all three into one procurement, betting that shared structural costs and a single flexible footprint would deliver more public value per euro spent than three standalone projects ever could.

The structure of the award criteria, heavy emphasis on a detailed technical design submission alongside price, with compliance and integrity declarations reserved for the final offer stage, also reflects how Dutch public works procurement has matured toward genuinely evaluating buildability and design quality for complex, non standard structures, rather than defaulting to price only competition once a project moves beyond routine infrastructure.

Suppliers watching similar dense, land constrained European cities, where surface parking increasingly competes directly with housing and public space for scarce land, should expect more of this "stacked function" building typology to appear in future tenders: combining mobility infrastructure with sport, retail, social services or even housing within a single structure, rather than treating each use as a separate site and a separate contract.

Supplier Takeaways

• Multi functional infrastructure projects that stack parking, sport, retail and social services into a single structure are likely to become more common in space constrained European cities, position technical capability across disciplines accordingly.
• Restricted procedures for complex works projects reward contractors who can demonstrate structural and multi disciplinary delivery capability well before the final Best and Final Offer stage.
• The broader De Nieuwe Kern area development, of which this hub is the first phase, is likely to generate a substantial pipeline of further housing, infrastructure and public space tenders over the coming decade.
• Subcontracting opportunities in sports surfacing, EV charging, smart access systems and social facility fit out are worth tracking as the main contract moves into delivery.
• Compliance declarations on environmental, social and labour law and anti collusion integrity statements, are now standard, binding elements of Dutch EMVI works procurement, not optional extras.

Key Takeaways

• The Municipality of Amsterdam awarded a €103.4 million contract to Max Bögl Nederland B.V. to build and maintain the Smart Mobility Hub for 15 years.
• The building combines a multi modal parking and transport hub, a 40,000 square metre rooftop sports park and ground floor social and commercial facilities including a winter shelter.
• The project is the first phase of the wider De Nieuwe Kern area development, freeing up land for thousands of new homes and AFC Ajax's expanded training campus.
• Only two tenders were received, one from an SME, following a restricted procurement procedure.
• Construction is targeted for completion by January 2028, with the contract also covering 15 years of subsequent maintenance.

Conclusion

Most parking garages disappear from public conversation the moment they open. The Smart Mobility Hub is designed to do the opposite, to become the anchor of an entirely new piece of Amsterdam, hosting football fans, football pitches and people with nowhere else to sleep on the coldest nights of the year, all inside the same concrete frame. Max Bögl now has just under eighteen months to build it and fifteen years to keep it running.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the contract to build the Smart Mobility Hub?

Max Bögl Nederland B.V., the Dutch subsidiary of the German construction and engineering group Max Bögl.

Who is the buyer?

Gemeente Amsterdam, Ingenieursbureau, the City of Amsterdam's engineering bureau.

What is the contract worth?

€103,457,507, against an original estimated value of €100,000,000.

What does the Smart Mobility Hub actually contain?

A multi modal parking and transport hub for cars, bicycles, taxis and coaches; a rooftop sports park of roughly 40,000 square metres; and ground floor commercial and social facilities, including a winter shelter.

When will it be completed?

Construction is scheduled to run from 1 July 2026 to 3 January 2028, according to the notice, with a further 15 years of maintenance under the same contract.

How many companies bid for the contract?

Two, one of which was a micro, small or medium sized enterprise.

Is the project funded by the European Union?

Yes. The notice confirms the project is fully or partially financed with EU funds.

Why is this project significant beyond the building itself?

It is the first phase of the De Nieuwe Kern area development, freeing up land currently used for surface parking for thousands of new homes and the expansion of AFC Ajax's training complex.

Source: EU Official Journal, Contract Award Notice 497369-2026, OJ S 136/2026, published 17/07/2026. Contracting authority: Gemeente Amsterdam, Ingenieursbureau.