Dussen Castle is in the scaffolding. The last minor maintenance on the medieval castle was committed in the 1950s, so a thorough renovation is desperately needed, Van Dinther Bouwbedrijf from Schaijk notes. “The roof tiles came down with a little wind.”
Knights and Jonkvrouwen have been replaced today by roofers, carpenters and painters, who walk and run at the Dussen Castle surrounded by a wide moat. “Maintenance was desperately needed,” says Dré van Dinther van van Dinther Bouwbedrijf from Schaijk in the reception hall. In the meantime, loud timer and birth sounds from the castle.
In the 1950s, only minor maintenance and painting work was carried out at the castle in Dussen, which served as a town hall between 1954 and 1997. After a thorough inspection of Monumentenwacht Noord-Brabant, it was decided, among other things, to restore the roofs and the woodwork. The construction company from Schaijk, which specializes in the restoration and renovation of monumental buildings, was called in to restore the castle.
“Safety was at stake,” Van Dinther continues, while a construction worker with a wheelbarrow runs over the courtyard. Because the pans of the roof blew, the water seeped into the historic building. No fun for the bridal couples, for whom the castle is nowadays a beloved wedding location. That is why the focus is in the first phase of the renovation on making the roof and the towers watertight.
The costs of the first phase are estimated at five to six tons. As many old elements as possible are stored during the restoration, performer Jan Rovers tells the roof climbing. There one of the roofers, with a cigarette in his mouth, is busy placing all the roof tiles one by one. They will only be replaced if it turns out to be really necessary. “Small reparties are still better than replacing the whole.”
Because the wedding season at Dussen Castle starts on 1 May, the first phase of the renovation must be completed before that time. “Unfortunately, bridal couples do not want scaffolding in the photo,” says Van Dinther. The construction company is on schedule.
The second phase of the renovation of the castle is expected to start over one and a half to two years. Then the outer ring is tackled, where the roofs fall along the canal and the facades. Rovers thinks a big challenge, because Dussen Castle is a water castle. That is a castle that is surrounded by a canal, where the outer walls are the most important defenses. The construction company does not yet dare to estimate how much money the renovation will cost.
Land of once
Dussen Castle is not the first castle to restore Van Dinther Bouwbedrijf. For example, the company from Schaijk previously restored Kasteel d’Oultremont in Nieuwkuijk, better known as the ‘pink castle’ of the former amusement park Land of once.
Other castles that restored the company are Kasteel Amerongen and Kasteel Vijfhoef in Udenhout. Furthermore, the company has, among other things, renovated the re -use of the former State Archives in the center of Den Bosch. There, Van Dinther also restored the Raadskelder under the medieval town hall.