Palace Het Loo | Palace Gardens view during major renovation

In the coming years, Palace Het Loo will undergo a major renovation and refurbishment. During this work, the main building will be closed. The stables and palace gardens will be open during the summer months. Thanks to RECO's temporary elevator, stairs and galleries, visitors can view the gardens and works from above.

Paleis Het Loo was in need of maintenance. In the main building, installations are being replaced and asbestos remediated, among other things. At the same time, an underground expansion is taking place. A basement was excavated in the courtyard for the realization of a large foyer. A glass and water feature in the courtyard, where there used to be four grass parterres, provides a direct view of this underground space. 

Keeping palace roof accessible
"Due to the work, the roof of the palace is no longer accessible from the inside," said RECO project manager Iwan Knoeff. "However, the roof must remain accessible during the renovation; the view from the roof onto the palace gardens is a major public attraction of Het Loo Palace. Koninklijke Woudenberg, the contractor, asked us to help think of a solution to keep the roof accessible." RECO already has the necessary experience in realizing scaffolding structures and audience-friendly installations. Previously, RECO provided the Rijksmuseum with an inventive scaffolding construction during its renovation. Last year, RECO also realized a temporary passenger elevator for Queen Elizabeth to board a new aircraft carrier for the British Royal Navy. 

RECO's temporary elevator, stairs and galleries allow visitors to view the gardens and works from above. (Image: Marnix Klooster)

Elevator, stairs and galleries
"The solution for Het Loo Palace lay in a temporary, public-friendly elevator on the outside of the building," Knoeff continued. "At the request of Het Loo Palace, this elevator has glass doors. From this elevator, disabled visitors can view the palace garden and reach the twenty-meter-high roof. In addition to the elevator, we also installed a staircase structure and three galleries. From those galleries, visitors can follow the work in the building."

Tight planning
To build the public facilities, materials had to be lifted from the courtyard - across the building - into the backyard. That transport took place just before the basement for the underground expansion was excavated. RECO only had that one moment to bring in the materials and thus had to prepare it well. Knoeff: "We had ten days to build the temporary public facilities. We had to be ready in time for the festive opening of the palace roof. A tight schedule, because normally building such a structure takes twenty days. Thanks to the efforts of our superintendent Roel van der Woude and all site employees, we met the schedule. At the same time, we had to proceed carefully because we were standing in the just renovated castle garden."

Rijksmuseum in scaffolding.

Construction site installation without failures
RECO also provided the construction site installation for the construction of the underground space and asbestos remediation. For example, RECO installed the distribution boxes and cabling. Of these, one distribution box connected to the existing installation in the east wing and one to the west wing. From there, RECO made 120 connections in the palace. Especially for this project, the cables were made in two colors: green for the underground work and blue for the asbestos removal. Intermediate meters were also installed. "A complex job," said Knoeff. "Especially when, during execution, it turned out that some of the cables would run through the underground extension. We then had to come up with an ad hoc alternative." From the very first moment, the construction site layout worked fine. To the contractor's satisfaction, there has not yet been a single malfunction.