intervention strategies for renovation of social housing estates

Approaches to renovation interventions in the Netherlands, proposals for Rome chapter 4
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(direct) financial support, they developed effective processes to manage renovation projects.
A number of housing estates from the 1960s and the 1970s have already been subjected to
physical renovation. Some of these initiatives are considered good examples of renovation as
it is shown by the National Renovation Prize (NRP), a well-known prize awarding successful
renovations in the Netherlands. The NRP has had already 11 editions; the latest one in 2007
(see www.nationalerenovatieprijs.nl)
Renovation on the building level often consists in re-adapting the existing housing supply.
Physical transformation types like combination of existing housing units and/or addition of
new dwellings (on the top floor, at the bottom, to the top-end) are common solutions in the
Netherlands Branders et. al., 2000). Re-organization of existing accessibility (to the building,
the dwellings and the shared spaces) by means, for example, of new elevators or addition of
galleries or loggias are common solutions as well. From a technical perception,
improvements regard new technical equipments, better thermal and acoustic insulation, new
claddings and window frames and double or even triple glazing.
The site of the National Renovation Prize (NRP), a well-known prize awarding best practice of
renovation in the Netherlands, provides an overview on many projects realized in the recent
years. Some of them are characterized by the conversion of their initial appearance into a
different one: ‘change the old, bad image into something completely new and modern’
(Gooijer and Te Velde, 2007 in Andeweg, 2007). This reflects the standard approach to
renovation, typically dominated by interventions aiming at improving the quality of the
building, meanwhile emphasizing its initial and most relevant architectural characteristics
(like Complex 50 Tab.10 Section 4.1.1 and Florijn Noord in Chapter 6). On this concept van
Schagen architekten, a very well-known and experienced architectural firm, based his design
for transformation of deprived social housing states. A number of their projects are
presented in the next section 1 . Examples in which the initial look of the building is
profoundly transformed are not very common the Netherlands (see Tab. 4).
In the Netherlands, renovation practice typically reflects two types of strategies, ‘renovation
light’ and ‘high-level renovation’. Both of them intend to improve the initial building quality.
High-level renovation, however, is more profoundly and leads to higher quality by moving
the walls to improve, for example, housing differentiation. Clearly, for implementation of
high-level renovation, tenants need to move out during the works. A good example of such a
relevant transformation is the case of the Complex 50 in Amsterdam (see Tab.10).
4.1.1) TEN EXAMPLES OF RENOVATION
There are a lot of examples of renovation projects in the Netherlands. With this respect, the
research project ReUrbA 2 (Restructuring Urban Areas) published a collection of principles and
types for transformation of the urban environment to meet new demands of the society. The
most interesting sources of information on the subject are the mentioned National
Renovation Prize (NRP). Being a bi-annual competition awarding good examples of
renovation, it provides an exhaustive overview of the recent renovations implemented.
To select the projects showed in this section the archive of NRP was consulted together with
the proceedings of the European funded research Cost C16 (entitled “Improving the quality
of the existing urban building envelopes”) and internet sites of architectural firms involved in
renovation (like van Schagen, Duinker van der Torre, ANA, D&E and so on). With this
respect, it needs to be emphasized that the examples of renovation in the tables do not aim
at a complete outline of the situation of social housing renovation in the Netherlands. Further
in-depth investigations should be done to provide this, like systematic analyses of best
practice for renovation as “examples of actions which could be recommended for further
application whether in a similar or adapted form” (Minnery at el. 2000). However,
demonstrating best practice is not a simple task (like definition of criteria, indicators, and
targets like ‘for whom’ and ‘for what’) (Roumet, 2007). Yet, a good reference can be the
research project “Best Practice Analysis of Renovation-Based Strategies” developed by the
1Van Schagen architekten base their office in Rotterdam. Numerous projects have been published on national and
international reviews (see also reports of Cost C16). For an overview check www.vanschagenarchitekten.com.
2 ReUrbA is an international platform for the exchanging and joint development of innovative methods for urban
renewal. For an overview check: www.reurba.org
2. D
RENOVATION LIGHT
and HIGH-LEVEL
RENOVATION
SELECTING 10
PROJECTS