Construction 74 apartments Hoflaan Leiden officially launched

Alderman Fleur Spijker of the municipality of Leiden, director Jeroen Heijdra of TBI company ERA Contour and housing manager Jet Bicker Caarten of Portaal gave the official starting signal for the construction of the apartments at Hoflaan and Weidehof in Leiden on Friday, June 11. They did so together by raising the flags of the three parties at the construction site. Because a grand party was not possible due to corona measures, those involved could follow the festive act via a livestream.

Life-proof and energy-efficient rental apartments

Commissioned by housing corporation Portaal, ERA Contour is constructing 74 varied apartments suitable for small households and seniors. They are completely natural gas-free and equipped with solar panels, which will be connected to the individual homes. The apartments are spread over three residential buildings, all of which are accessed by an elevator. This allows residents to continue living independently in the apartments for longer. The homes on the first floor will have a front door at street level. FARO Architects chose this for the design of the homes, in order to create a lively neighborhood.   

Reduce housing shortage

"For every demolition and new construction project, we look at the possibilities of building back more homes than we will demolish. The housing shortage in Leiden is still huge and any additional housing helps. For the Hoflaan and Weidehof, we are pleased that we managed to build back 16 more apartments," said Marlies Krol, director of real estate projects at Portaal.

Making Leiden a little stronger together

Alderman Fleur Spijker adds: "In Leiden, affordable rental housing is in high demand. Therefore, as Alderman for Housing, I am pleased that Portaal is rebuilding more social housing. And as Alderman for Energy Transition, I am of course proud that this is happening in a very sustainable way. So the residents of Hoflaan and Weidehof will soon be completely ready for the future!" Jeroen Heijdra agrees: "We consider it an honor to be commissioned by Portaal to make this neighborhood in the beautiful city of Leiden a bit stronger again!"

Completion scheduled in 2022

Construction is expected to take more than a year. The first residents can move into their new homes in the summer of 2022.