Employment effects proved hard to measure but could be estimated
based on the real estate programme. Assessment of established
businesses was only possible for the second-generation
projects. This showed that mainly international and national firms
in business services (such as financial and legal services) settled in
the project areas. On the whole, the key projects did not attract any
more private investment than the reference projects. With regard
to these two criteria, employment and established businesses, no
clear effect of the involvement of national government was found
(Van der Wouden et al., 2009). However, an important surplus value
was found for public investment as the national government
chose to locate public real estate – such as ministry buildings,
law courts, museums and government archives – on the sites of
first-generation key projects.