New Brooklyn: a piece of New York in Almere

You would almost think you were lost walking through new housing development New Brooklyn in Almere Poort. Work is underway here on 1,400 homes in the style of Brooklyn, New York City. Contractor Nijhuis Bouw in Apeldoorn is taking care of part of the neighborhood. Project manager Henrico Kroes talks about the project.

"The architecture is very special," Kroes said. "Almere is a huge growth municipality, so there is a lot of building going on. Yet this is really becoming its own recognizable neighborhood. The contractor's father happened to be in New York recently and had taken pictures of the buildings in Brooklyn. You can see that style reflected nicely in the new buildings. The architecture makes the project unique."

From pasture to urban district

"We transformed a meadow into a huge village in a fairly short time," Kroes says. "New Brooklyn is increasingly taking shape as a multifaceted residential neighborhood with single-family homes, owner-occupied apartments, vacant lots and (social) rental housing. A hip and vibrant place with plenty of opportunities for residents to meet."

"The main part consists of the municipality of Almere, housing corporation de Alliantie and Heijmans Vastgoed. We mainly build for de Alliantie, but we also built rental homes for Heijmans Vastgoed. After the first phase, we will have completed more than 200 homes by the end of 2022."

Fine tuning

Because the project involves many different parties, good coordination between them proved essential, from design to execution. "There are three architects involved who all have to go past the quality team with their designs. This is because the different homes have to fit together well in terms of style." But the real challenge was in the logistics and planning. "That is still quite exciting and complicated. For example, the homes use district heating through Vattenfall. That's a sustainable method of regulating the temperature in the home or getting hot water without gas. To do this, the homes must all be connected to a water network. In addition to the district heating pipes, there are many other pipes in the ground, for example for electricity and internet, and that requires quite a bit of coordination. Who sits where and who is next to connect the homes when? Moreover, you are building with different parties in each other's gardens, so to speak. So you have to look carefully at how everyone gets the space to do their work. In terms of transport, too, it sometimes proves difficult. This is why all the parties involved meet fortnightly for coordination meetings."

Building on each other

Despite the shortage of capacity in the construction world, Nijhuis and its co-makers have already managed to build many beautiful things. "Of course that didn't go without a hitch, but thanks to good cooperation and clear agreements with the client, the process went smoothly. We are proud of that. We don't build alone, of course. Everyone is desperately needed to deliver what you promise. We like to build long-term relationships with our partners. That way we can make ever sharper agreements and build on each other." That is also the message Kroes wants to pass along to other builders. "Have confidence in each other and work on a good relationship. That way we can rectify a lot together to alleviate the housing shortage."