Chartered Institute of Housing South East

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The CIH SE Branch study tour of Rotterdam 26 - 28 October 2005

The Rotterdam study trip report is also available to download as a PDF (0.98MB)

Rotterdam 2005 - houses on water Rotterdam 2005 - people Rotterdam 2005 - toppling boxes

Wednesday 26 October

The idea of three days in Rotterdam looking at the diverse developments and regeneration activity created a real sense of anticipation and excitement for many of the travellers. It’s just that as we assembled at 4.30am at Gatwick airport this excitement was somehow not much in evidence. Could it be that some had been up since midnight sorting out travel arrangements to get there. Nevertheless everyone was on time, perhaps an omen for the organisation of the trip overall...

Easyjet check-in was painless and took 2 minutes (perhaps it got busier later in the day).

The flight to Schiphol (Amsterdam) airport took all of 40 minutes in the air. The plane climbed gradually over SE England and as soon as it got to the required 20,000ft altitude it started its decent. We were back on the ground in no time and a good landing from the Airbus 3 series. To our surprise the new runway at Schiphol was some way from the airport, about 6 miles by our reckoning and it took 20 minutes of taxiing at some speed to get to the terminal including crossing motorways and canals.

We were met at the airport by Corne Koppelaar who helped put the programme together. Corne has worked in housing in The Netherlands for many years but now lives in Spain and helps to organise this kind of housing tour. Straight on to the train and one of the Dutch splendid intercity, double decker trains. (The run on time and look great). The train journey lasted 45 minutes to Rotterdam Central and allowed the group to catch up on sleep or get some idea of the Dutch landscape. The plan was a short tram trip to the Maritime Hotel however we got on the right tram going the wrong way and had a half hour tour of the Rotterdam suburbs before being returned to the Central Station and onto the hotel. All that way for only a 50p tram ride!!

There was time for coffee and apple pie in the hotel restaurant before checking in to the rooms and on then a walk to the Dutch Architectural Institute (NAI). We were given a relaxed presentation of the history of Dutch architecture by Gideon Peel. The NAI is housed in a striking building designed by Jo Coenen.

There were interactive presentations of the post war redevelopment. (Central Rotterdam was destroyed in a firestorm in 1940). The NAI also serves as a repository for the many architectural records dating back nearly 200 years and I was particularly taken by the drawing of P Cuupers (circa1850) with ornate and grandiose designs for the rich merchants.

It is not uncommon for the Dutch to present their social history in what are termed Museum Houses, simply existing, well preserved buildings with all the internal fittings still in place. Perhaps the best example is the Sonneveld House next door to the NAI.

As we entered the main front door we donned leather overshoes so as not to mark the beautiful parquet and linoleum flooring. It is built in the style of ‘Nieuwe Bouwen’ (new building) which represents light air and space and the architects (plans by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt) also had responsibility for the interior design. Inside there is steel tubular furniture and the most outrageous bathroom suites. It is impressive for its flair and attention to artistic detail. I recall from the Montreal trip earlier this year that the Canadian designers were seeking to provide the architecture of optimism rather than the architecture of modesty. This is firmly at the extreme end of the optimistic scale, opulent and a work of art.

The Rotterdam Euromast is not for those with acrophobia but its been there a long time and presents some spectacular views of the city. If you are brave enough you can go right to the top. This is the view from half way up but the shaking hand is barely noticeable.

By now the travellers were starting to suffer sleep deprivation so a short walk through the Het Park and along the Maas waterfront back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner and a drink in the bar.

Thursday 27 October

When checking who is missing at the start of the day it was likely that John would get the blame. Not because they he was always late but because there were 5 of them.

A coach was on hand to take us first to the City Information Centre (CIC) for a presentation on the masterplanning of Rotterdam by Joep Boute.

Joep explained that Rotterdam has faced two major planning issues in the past 60 years. The first was to address the post war redevelopment and the second was to position the city in relation to its main maritime industries. With massive post war housing driven by the public sector Rotterdam today is 60% social housing operated by a range of Housing Associations. Of the rest 25% is owner occupied and 15% privately rented.

Much of the periphery is based on the large scale systems building of concrete which we are familiar with in England. This is now being redeveloped. At the same time Rotterdam had a reputation for being a ‘town behind a port’ (Rotterdam is the biggest and busiest port in the world and the freight shipping goes up the Rhine river all the way to Basle and to the Black sea) and it wanted to be a ‘City beside the River’. It had a clear vision of where it wants to be in 2045. A forty year plan identifying step by step developments. This was not the experience of those working in the UK!

It has plans to increase owner occupation by 1% a year with a focus on quality not quantity. The increase in wealth over the past decade had allowed many people to move to higher quality owner occupied housing (there is no Right to buy) and this has released social housing to the point that there is now a surplus of social housing in the city. All this has been done without government subsidy.

This shift requires vision and determination. The result is a series of well planned developments, some are still on the drawing board and will be later phases of the masterplan but what has already been completed has created a vibrant city centre with new owner occupied apartments and new social housing to enable relocation for further regeneration elsewhere.

There is no doubt that most of the group on the study tour found Rotterdam to be an attractive, pleasant city and most of us would be pleased to live there. Good use is made of public art in public space throughout the city.

We were met at the CIC by Bianca Seekles a concept developer of ERA Bouw, a private developer for a tour of the Landtong housing scheme on the Kop van Zuid. This area is situated south of the Maas river. We were told that there is a real schism between the residents of the north and the south of the city, just like London. Kop van Zuid includes the ERA Bouw development of 623 houses developed on 9 acres with parking and commercial use.

All the development had made good use of design to present attractive facades and different ideas for finishes. The balconies for the older persons schemes make good use of passive solar gain and provide a window on the world for the residents. Eileen St Pierre from Gallions HA was intrigued by the façade of the local school.

By lunchtime we had walked some distance in the autumn sunshine and indeed it proved to be the hottest October day for 150 years in the UK. We were in need of refreshment and we returned to the city centre and a Turkish restaurant for soup and mes_.

Onward to a new development to the north of the city. Nieuw – Terbegge is not marked on the city maps from the hotel, it is only a patch of green situated between a river and a motorway and railway line. It is the same distance from the central station as our hotel, perhaps a 30 minute walk from the city centre.

On arrival we had a detailed presentation from Jacco Dekker of Proper Stok a major development company. He outlined the history of the development of Nieuw – Terbrgge and the philosophy behind the sustainable development.

It was a co-operation between Rotterdam Metropolitan Council for the price of the land, the utility companies, PWS Housing Corporation for turn key developments of social housing, and a range of different architects.

What has been provided are:

Phase 1- 505 properties

Phase 2 provided a further 195 homes, a school and medical centre.

The development also allowed for modular timber frame building to be completed under the management of the owners. This arrangement allowed a basic size to be complemented by front conservatories or dormer windows and so provide a home that meets both the immediate and future needs of the occupiers. It also provides for a varied frontage as shown below.

The whole development of Nieuw – Terbregge is bounded by a major noise barrier to the south, a massive embankment of soil. The development site is 6 metres below sea level and the water surrounding the residences comes from the Maas river but first it is cleaned by a series of small canals with reed beds before it reaches the area surrounding the houses. They were cleaning the reed beds as we arrived and we walked past a number of large toads that had been disturbed by the process.

This was a well planned, and attractive development. Property prices had risen significantly (doubled in 4 years) but the owners were not the only beneficiaries as penalties on capital gains were are in place for the early years of the development with excess gains being returned to the City.

The exhausted party returned to the hotel before setting out again by water taxi to the Holland-New York Line building now one of the cities best restaurants. It is situated at the end of the Wilhelmina pier, where we had walked first thing that morning. In the early part of the day a new ship from the Carisbrooke Shipping line (based on the Isle of Wight) was being commissioned with a fanfare and fireworks. In the evening a massive bulk gas carrier was getting the same treatment, all right alongside the restaurant. We approved.

Half the party returned to the north shore by water-taxi and half by the Erasmus Bridge which looks splendid at night.

Friday 28 October

The Friday gave a lie-in until 9.30 for those who were socialising late into the night. We congregated outside the hotel and were about to walk to the cube houses, Kijkkubus when Bob Keats met one of his relatives. That’s some coincidence as he only knows 5 people in the Netherlands and this relative had never been to that part of Rotterdam before.

The Cube houses are close to science fiction. They are fun to look at from the outside but not entirely practical inside. Nevertheless they provide interesting city centre living for a reasonable price.

Adjacent to the Kijkkubus is the Netherlands’ densest social housing scheme and although not part of the study trip a bunch of curious housing workers were not going to miss the chance to check out the design and evidence of management effectiveness.

We returned to the hotel for lunch by the waterside, just as the clouds were building and the temperature was dropping.

An easy tram, train and plane ride back to Gatwick for final farewells. It all went like clockwork.

Special thanks to Corne Koppelaar for organising and accompanying us in the tour.

Thanks to Portsmouth Housing Association and Denley King for their support for the trip.

Thanks to Chris Moquet and the International Sub Committee of the CIH SE Branch for making it happen.

Thanks (in no particular order) to my travelling companions

John Bloomfield, Harrington Bloomfield Architects
Nick Murphy, Southampton City Council
Jamie Abbott , Gallions Housing Association
John Daley, Defence Housing Executive
John Macklin, Portsmouth Housing Association
John Waterfield, Portsmouth Housing Association
John Butler, Portsmouth housing Association
Sharon Edmead, Gallions Housing Association
Eileen St Pierre, Gallions Housing Association
Rachelle Williams, Soverign housing Group
Shirley Metson, Canterbury City Council
Tade Olalekan, Swaythling Housing Society
Rachel Evans, Guiness Trust
Kevin Adams , Atlantic Housing Group
Graham Williams, Denley King

for being great company and very punctual throughout.

Bob Keats, Group Leader
Secretary, Chartered Institute of Housing South East and Senior Lecturer, Southampton Solent University.