Renovate and preserve 174 apartment homes

Commissioned by the Portaal housing association, BAM Wonen is renovating and making 174 apartments on Nigerdreef in Utrecht more sustainable. The apartment building is the first of a total of five projects that the parties are undertaking jointly in the Overvecht district.

The housing association's desire: to make the apartment buildings more sustainable and future-proof and maintenance-friendly for a new expected operating life of forty years. "We also wanted to reduce the costs of the handyman service (VOC) for complaint maintenance and improve the energy label," says Petri Bosch, senior project manager at Portaal. Initially, the housing foundation went with another party and mex architects had already been engaged. When consultations with the contractor stalled, Portaal issued a tender for a chain party to enter into a long-term collaboration. In the end, the choice fell on BAM Wonen. Edwin van den Hengel, Renovation Concepts project manager at BAM Wonen: "Our first question was: do we build on the plan that is already there? It is a shame to throw away all the knowledge that was already there and the work of the architect. So we finished the plan and drew up a budget. Then we had to get permission from at least 70% of the residents and apply for permits. Once that was all done, we could get started."

Requirements of our time

The houses in the flat on Nigerdreef date from the late 1960s and are structurally still in good condition, but no longer meet today's requirements. During the major renovation, the facades will be insulated and the window frames replaced and fitted with hr++ glass. The floor between the storerooms and the first floor will be insulated. The apartments will also get a new ventilation system. All apartments will have new kitchens and toilets and, in many cases, new bathrooms. Balcony railings will be replaced and the entrances and porches will be refurbished. All sewers will be replaced and asbestos decontaminated.

The property was already connected to biomass district heating, but the renovation opted to go completely "off gas. The new kitchens will therefore have electric hobs or stoves (depending on what the residents already had). 

Because the renovation is major for the residents and they are temporarily unable to use the sewer system, they take turns using a nearby guest house for four weeks. Bosch: "We have thirty guest houses at our disposal. Of these, 25 are always used by people whose apartments are currently being remodeled. The other five are for residents who are very inconvenienced by the outside work. Or, for example, for people who work night shifts and otherwise cannot sleep during the day." 

The final component of the project is a new entrance to the property. Van den Hengel: "This was necessary because we are making the access to the storerooms more accessible and are going to install a new elevator system. We are also extending the elevator to the first floor. Previously, people first had to climb a few steps to get to the elevator. So this requires a totally different layout of the hall downstairs. In addition, the entire building is equipped with a new intercom system."

Short lines

The project is proceeding smoothly and on schedule. Bosch: "The cooperation is going very well. We work with short lines and know where to find each other. We have construction meetings every four weeks and social consultations every week. For example, about residents who prefer to move or to ensure that families can stay in suitable guest houses. In this way we also limit the inconvenience for the residents. And that is important, because it is also a calling card for the next projects in the same neighborhood."

This project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2022. The next joint project is a flat on Ibisdreef. For this, preparations are already in full swing. Van den Hengel: "The construction site is in a strategic location. From there we can see both this project and the next two projects."