Platform on new construction, renovation, restoration and transformation
The office building on Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië in The Hague is getting a new lease on life as NOI Avenue. A residential complex with 221 apartments, three stores, and a facade of ceramic and natural stone: a chic look for a building that was previously vacant. The biggest challenge lay in the construction. The old building rests on steel rather than piles, while a significant amount of weight will be added on top of it.
For the NOI Avenue project, De Vries en Verburg developed the technical design into a construction-ready design, with the architect, structural engineer, and mechanical/electrical/plumbing consultant working under its direction. The developer sold 157 of the 205 apartments to the investor Bouwinvest. The remaining apartments and single-family homes were sold to private individuals.
The biggest challenge was the weight. The tall tower has been topped with an additional story. In the lower section, the fifth floor was demolished and replaced with two new stories. On a foundation without piles, this requires the use of lightweight materials. “With every material choice, we consider the weight to ensure it fits within the existing structure,” explains project manager Ard Egas. The main load-bearing structure remains concrete; the main load-bearing structure of the new floors is steel combined with hollow-core slab floors, and the apartment partitions and interior walls are made of metal studs. “It’s a challenge to build on top of something like this, to manage the weight, and to ensure that the apartments meet high technical standards.”
A 10-meter extension has been built on the front of the building. It is supported by piles. The transition between the two foundation systems makes the work particularly challenging, Egas notes. The transition between the two foundation systems runs through several apartments. “Some apartments are located in both structures. You have to think this through carefully to prevent settlement issues during construction and in the future,” he says. The team is therefore closely monitoring the structure’s settlement. The extension consists of cast-in-place concrete walls with wide-slab floors.
On Carpentierstraat, single-family homes are being built on top of the existing underground parking garage, with three stories and a roof structure above. The concrete walls on the ground floor are now complete, and work has begun on the first-floor slab.
NOI Avenue is an inner-city project. The municipality of The Hague is making part of its land available as a construction site. Without that space, construction would have been difficult, Egas believes. “We have 2 to 3 meters to the property line. We could have just barely set up scaffolding there, but that would have posed a challenge in terms of transportation.” On the side facing Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië, trucks are now coming and going
Completion is scheduled for September 2027, possibly sooner. At that time, NOI Avenue will offer social housing, owner-occupied units, private-sector rental units, and single-family homes, plus three stores that will extend the Theresiastraat shopping district. For a location that used to look so deserted, that’s a significant upgrade.
