The roof is being removed in part of the Roofvogelbuurt in Oss. And that’s why the attics need to be cleaned out. Wednesday was container day. A day on which large containers are placed in the street where everyone can throw their bulky waste. Because all attics must be emptied so that a new roof can be made. The start of the renovation of this part of the bird of prey area.
A person collects something in his life. Aynur Ozatac (61) can speak to that. She has lived in her simple social housing in Buizerdlaan for years. She raised her children there and hopes to eventually move to a smaller house. But now she has to start cleaning up anyway, because her house is going to be renovated. Fortunately she is helped. Aynur: “It’s nice that they help. I can’t easily climb the stairs to the attic myself. They were here with a container two weeks ago. A lot had already been removed.”
But it’s still not quite done. Aynur brings something out every now and then. A bag of dirt, a jaunty candlestick that can surely go away. And she’s not the only one. The container is almost completely full by noon. And last time, four full containers were already removed from the street.
Van Wijnen construction company is responsible for the renovation. To make everything go as smoothly as possible, the residents receive help from all sides. This means that not everyone has to drive to the dump themselves. In the street, emergency workers run back and forth between the houses and containers. The often older residents find it difficult to do everything themselves, so everyone rolls up their sleeves.
“We help each other. That is not only now, but also at other times.”
Ayhan Goksen lives at number 24. His own attic is already empty, now he helps with the others. “We help each other. That is not only now, but also at other times. We do that in this neighborhood. That’s the difference with the big city. If you see the junk we throw away, you’d say the houses are a bit too small. But you just have to be very happy that you have a house here in the Netherlands. I also have a front and back garden. If you’re going to complain, you should start earning more money so you can buy something yourself.”
And there goes another large plank of wood into the container and a piece of an old bed. There are also refrigerators, dryers, swimming pool pumps and outdoor heaters on the street. They were needed once, but probably had been sitting in the attic doing nothing for years.
“They’re usually happy when it’s all done.”
The renovation is being carried out by Bouwbedrijf Van Wijnen on behalf of BrabantWonen. Dianne Hol is a resident supervisor at Bouwbedrijf Van Wijnen. She also walks back and forth from the attic to the container this morning. She notices that residents are relieved to be rid of the mess. “People are dreading such a renovation. But usually they are happy when it is all done.”
In the Roofvogelbuurt in Oss, part of the neighborhood is being renovated and part is being demolished. At least, those are the plans. There is a lot of resistance in the neighborhood against the demolition. The container day on Wednesday was for the part of the neighborhood that will be renovated.
Also read about the actions against demolition:
Neighborhood angry about demolition of their houses: ‘Worst thing that can happen to you’