Five years ago, the Amstelveen Aquarius flat was still known as a ‘horror flat’, but now the municipality is proud of the building again. The flat not only looks new, but also proves that a lack of space does not have to stand in the way of expanding the housing stock.
Amstelveen Aquarius flat renovated and topped up – NH News
At the time, residents complained to NH about leaks, mold, overdue maintenance and sky-high energy bills. The owner of the Eigen Haard building was deeply concerned and gave the renovation of the Aquarius a high priority. Residents were assigned a replacement home and the option to eventually to return to their renovated social housing.
“We have added new entrances, completely insulated the building, added solar panels and replaced the complete installations,” says project developer at Eigen Haard Thijs Faber.
78-year-old Ellie Wiegeraad and 73-year-old Francoise Combee Delacour are moving back to the renovated version of their old apartment this week. Ellie can already see herself sitting in her chair in front of the window. “Just like before.” At first she didn’t want to move again, but she still got homesick. “It’s more alive here. I don’t like silence,” the Amstelveen woman explains.
Francoise can hardly hold back her tears, she is so happy. “It really makes me emotional.” In 1973 she came to live in the Aquarius flat with her husband. “I had my son here. My husband has unfortunately passed away. It just feels like home,” she says.
With the housing crisis in mind, Eigen Haard wanted more with the vacant building that already had to be completely gutted. By ‘topping up’ the flat, there are now 183 homes instead of 145.
Extra floor
“We have set up a complete floor there,” Faber explains. The residents of the top floor can reach the second floor of their apartment via a staircase in the living room.
Adding floors to existing apartment buildings: it sounds like the solution to the housing crisis in Amstelveen and perhaps even in the rest of the country. The housing shortage is currently greatest in Amstelveen, but space is scarce. On average you wait 19 years for social housing.
“With a light wooden structure it was possible to add an extra living layer”
However, not every building can simply be topped up. Faber says that it was also a bit of a puzzle with the Aquarius: “Weight is added, but because we looked for a good solution with a wooden and therefore relatively light structure, it was possible to add a living floor.”
After the success of the Aquarius apartment, Eigen Haard is investigating whether more Amstelveen apartment buildings can be topped up. The Amstelveen municipal council and outgoing Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning Hugo De Jonge are also enthusiastic.
100,000 additional homes
During a meeting about topping up at the end of September, De Jonge said: “It offers an incredible number of opportunities. First of all, of course, because you already have the locations. Finding locations is a major problem when adding more affordable housing.”
Research commissioned by De Jonge shows that topping up could create approximately 100,000 additional homes in the Netherlands by 2030. A third of the housing shortage will then be solved. That is why the government wants to encourage municipalities and property managers to get started with it in the coming years.
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