Boeghaven: first phase of new construction Havenkwartier Zeewolde

'No home is the same'

The atmosphere of an authentic harbor town, but with homes equipped with all modern conveniences: that is the Boeghaven new construction project in Zeewolde. Van Norel Bouwgroep built 24 terraced houses and four semi-detached houses here. The project is part of the new Havenkwartier neighborhood. "We have built high-quality homes with an attractive appearance here."

The homes are located in a water-rich area and residents sail from their own moorings onto the surrounding lakes. Therefore, a design with the atmosphere of a harbor town was chosen. In cooperation with the project developer, Van Norel Bouwgroep elaborated the project plan and design into working drawings, which included various shell construction options for the homes as desired by the buyers. "We included these options at an early stage because, for example, an extension also requires adjustments to the structure," says Corné Vreugdenhil, project manager at Van Norel. "Then our project planners made the designs further feasible and close with the financial frameworks. Construction took place during the corona period, so that was working differently than we are used to." The project was realized in cooperation with subcontractors with whom Van Norel works more often, such as installer Ordelman & Dijkman Installations from Hengelo.

One concern during construction was that there are existing sheet pile walls in the construction area, which have tension anchors under the ground. "You have to get around that with the foundation piles, because you don't want to end up on them. That's why we used non-ground displacement bored piles at several homes." 

Variation in material and design

What makes this project special is that all the homes are different. Vreugdenhil: "No home is the same, which makes it a very nice project. There are different types of facades and roofs and there is also variation in the materials used. For example, we used six different types of bricks and four different colors of cladding, processed both horizontally and vertically. That took some switching during the construction phase, because you also have to deal with different detailing. That does not make one house more difficult to build than the other, but you do encounter something different in each house. Then you have to see how you are going to tackle that, because you just can't detail everything." All homes are of course gas-free, with solar panels and connected to district heating.

High-quality, traditionally built homes

Construction went well and last spring the homes were delivered on time. Although it was a bit tense, because the roof tiles of the last blocks were delivered late. As a result, the scaffolding had to remain in place longer and the construction of the utilities was delayed. Vreugdenhil looks back on the project with satisfaction: "We have built high-quality homes here in the style of a harbor town. The houses are built completely traditionally, although we did use various prefabricated components." The cladding is Canadian Cape Cod wood. This gives the homes a beautiful look and is low maintenance.

For now, by the way, Van Norel Bouwgroep is not finished in the Havenkwartier plan area. The contractor has now started construction of an apartment complex for the same developer.