In Veenhuizen the last copper drain pipes have disappeared. After previous thefts at several churches in the village, thieves struck again last week at the consistory of De Koepelkerk.
“This means that all the copper is gone from the monumental buildings,” says Sanne Beishuizen of De Nieuwe Rentmeester. The organization, which manages the monumental buildings, is now permanently replacing the stolen pipes with aluminum replicas that closely resemble the real material.
According to Beishuizen, the damage after the last theft is again significant: several thousand euros, including the mounting materials that were lost during the theft. Because the use of replicas is not actually allowed in monumental buildings, close consultation has been held about this with the municipality.
But the measure seems necessary, says Beishuizen, and it has already worked before: “The aluminum pipes were already hanging at the Koepelkerk. Thieves left them hanging there when they saw that it was not copper.”
By switching completely to aluminum, De Nieuwe Rentmeester hopes that the series of copper thefts in Veenhuizen will stop. According to Beishuizen, this is desperately needed, because the organization can hardly protect itself against it.
Putting up cameras sometimes helps, but certainly not always, she says. The choice for replicas therefore feels like the only logical step. “It looks just like copper, but it’s worthless to thieves.”
The stolen drain pipes will be replaced one by one in the near future. The pipes that were stolen last week were the last copper ones still hanging on the buildings. Beishuizen: “A bit of luck in an accident.”