RAI
The RAI district mainly comprises the events, conference and trade-show complex, surrounded by Scheldeplein, Europaplein, Europaboulevard and the Nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel. There are plans to redevelop the RAI complex.
RAI Amsterdam has been at this location since 1961. Before that, there was an exhibition hall in Ferdinand Bolstraat. The Europahal, a national listed monument, together with ‘Het Signaal’ advertising column, was the main centrepiece. After that, the complex was extended many times. The Nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel was completed in 2019, with a total of 655 rooms, making it the largest hotel in the Benelux at that time.
Transformation of RAI
In the past, RAI was located slightly on the outskirts of the city. However, it has since been swallowed up by that city. Over the years, tensions have arisen between the surrounding residential neighbourhoods and the relatively private RAI complex, which also creates a lot of freight traffic. The City of Amsterdam and the RAI are working together on a solution. In 2019, the RAI presented a Master Plan, intended to ‘future-proof the complex and transform the surroundings into a sustainable and multifunctional meeting place where employment, leisure, housing, learning, innovation, entrepreneurship and healthy living go hand in hand’. In 2021, the City Executive expressed its support for the plan (information in Dutch). But, by then, Covid-19 had thrown a spanner in the works. The RAI faced economic difficulties, because all of its events had been cancelled.
Green areas, housing and amenities
Planning has now resumed. In 2024, the City of Amsterdam and the RAI drew up a Memorandum of Principles (Uitganspuntennota – information in Dutch) and gave Amsterdam citizens the opportunity to contribute ideas about the redevelopment. The aim is to open up the complex by adding space for green areas, housing and amenities.
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