One plan, three times a win. The football club and the tennis club of Bargeres, together with architect Hendrik Klinkhamer, devised a plan for the reconstruction of both their sports parks. Result: everyone scores. The football club will soon have two more artificial grass fields, the tennis club will have its padel courts and the Waanderveld business park can expand with four business plots. “The knife cuts nicely on three sides,” laughs Klinkhamer.
About ten years ago, the Bargeres football club threw a ball around. Expansion with an artificial grass field might be possible with the help of vacant plots from the adjacent Waanderveld. “We approached the municipality with that plan,” says chairman Peter Santing. “The real estate market was in disarray and many plots were still available on the Waanderveld.”
The municipality sees no point in it at that time, but the wish remains. An artificial grass field enables the club to allow all members to play during the week. “That works for now, but it is a huge puzzle.” Because one of the fields is known as the ‘sandbox’, Santing explains. “The field is used intensively.” As a result, the grass disappears quickly.” With artificial grass you don’t have that problem and you can even make do with fewer fields.
The club was not the only one with wishes. The neighbors, TennisClub Bargeres, would very much like to expand with padel and pickle courts. Both sports (the first is a kind of combination of tennis and squash, the two a kind of mini-tennis) have become extremely popular. “Both are extremely popular,” chairman Helenus de Reus summarizes succinctly.
The association wants to respond to this. “Partly to keep our membership numbers going.” Not that the club has anything to complain about. The number is currently 568 and is slightly increasing, according to De Reus. “But with padel and pickle it will boom,” he expects.
The problem for the tennis club is that they actually have no room to expand. The current four-lane facility is full. “It’s just too tight for expansion.”
Architect Hendrik Klinkhamer, who lives and works on the Waanderveld, is involved in both clubs. He was familiar with the wishes of both associations, but also those in his own environment. “The Waanderveld offers a combination of living and working to its residents.
Parties regularly ask about location options on this site, but all plots are as good as gone.” How do you solve that? “I thought to myself: what if the football club gets artificial grass, then they can dispose of two fields. You then add that land to the Waanderveld.” Attempt two, that is: the club and Klinkhamer submit the plan to the municipality, then in the middle of the corona period. “There was no money, so that was difficult.”
But three times is a charm: when the wishes of the tennis club were also included in the plan. The associations and Klinkhamer started puzzling and a plan was developed in which everyone benefits: the football club sacrifices its main field and a training field. A field will be added to the Waanderveld, creating space for four plots. The other field will be converted into a shared parking lot between both clubs. The current one is located next to the tennis courts.
De Reus: “Dealing is currently underway. It is a thorn in the side of us and the municipality. But the new parking lot will soon be behind fences and that has also been resolved.” This also creates space for one and a half artificial turf fields for the football club.
Part of the plan also includes additional lighting for the football club. Santing: “At the moment, only our training field is illuminated. Soon, it will be on the 2.5 fields we have left. We can therefore play more during twilight or in the evenings.”
For the tennis club, this finally means air for their expansion. “In principle, we will soon have room for up to six padel courts,” says De Reus. “The members have given permission for the construction of two courts. But the board also opts for two pickle courts.
Both associations hope that the extensive job will be completed by 2024. “If I have my way, yes,” laughs De Reus. In the coming months, the clubs will discuss the approach and planning with the municipality. The expected costs are between two and three million euros, De Reus estimates. How the costs are divided among each other also becomes part of the conversation. But the ball is finally rolling, according to everyone involved. “It’s a win-win-win plan,” Klinkhamer concludes.