The Apenrots in Groningen, also known as the Gasunie head office, will be renovated over the next two and a half years. “It was also allowed, after thirty years.”
Architects, engineers and designers have been queuing there since it opened in 1994. Students with a part-time job gave them an insight into the unique building on the edge of the Stadspark in Groningen: the head office of the Gasunie – soon affectionately known as De Apenrots.
Every day there was enthusiasm for a tour of the architectural masterpiece of the Amsterdam architectural firm Alberts & Van Huut. Once the professionally interested people had their eyes on it, it was the turn of other interested parties: from housewives’ associations to groups of Japanese.
They all stood in that iconic hall, they all threw back their heads to marvel at the enormous height above them, in which they saw a rainbow with Ramses Shaffy’s blue sky above it. All those colors decorated the balustrades of the 18 floors of the Monkey Rock.
Those colors are still there. A master painter keeps a close eye on where a lick of paint is needed. The vertical gardens – way ahead of their time in 1994 – are rampant throughout the building.
In need of renovation after thirty years
At the same time, the eye-catching office building is in need of renovation after 30 years. This will take place over the next two and a half years. “Nothing will change on the outside,” promises Richard Aarts (60). He has worked at Gasunie for 37 years and is now responsible for the building as facilities manager. 2,200 people work there at 1,450 workplaces.
Before corona, there were fewer and employees worked in fairly closed office spaces that did not have the openness of the reception area of De Apenrots. Due to corona, the leaders of Gasunie realized that their employees would partly work from home in the future and would need a mix of spaces in the office. There they find silence, noise or commotion.
‘Friendly and organic character’
That is why the floors are turning into more open spaces, says Aarts. And according to him, they will fit in with the ‘friendly and organic character’ of the office. At the same time, renovation is the time to replace, for example, 30-year-old kitchen units.
The job is not cheap, says Aarts. “It costs millions. Just calculate what new floor coverings cost. We have 30,000 square meters of carpet here. It has been replaced once before in the past thirty years. Suppose you pay 50 euros per meter, then you are already at 1.5 million euros.” According to him, the intention is to complete the renovation job ‘with zero waste’.
With corona, the tours of De Apenrots came to an end. Who knows, maybe they will take place again if the iconic office can last another 30 years in two and a half years. Or, as architect Ton Alberts said in 1993 about ‘his’ design: “If no one touches it, this complex will still be exactly the same in 500 years. This is a building for eternity.”
In that building, employees are less and less concerned with gas transport and more and more concerned with converting green energy into hydrogen. To then transport it. “We continue to do what we are good at,” says Aarts.
The Monkey Rock
The Gasunie head office was built in 2011 1994 opened by queen Beatrice which also included the new one that same year Groningen Museum opened. The building, soon renamed De Apenrots, was designed by an architectural firm Alberts & Van Huut . It cost 140 million guilders, approximately 63 million euros . It is 89 meters high, for comparison: the Martini Tower measures 96.8 meters. It counts 382 steps, not including those leading to the bunker – where the gas distribution control room is located. The Monkey Rock was declared in 2007 most beautiful building of the Netherlands and is included in the book ‘ Buildings with a soul ‘. Groningen now has more iconic buildings such as the DUO building (2012), La Liberté (2011) and the Forum (2019).