From building due for demolition to ship
DUWO has realised a large amount of temporary accommodation for students in Amsterdam in the past few years. DUWO gained access to the Amsterdam housing market at the end of 2003. Our aim was to acquire as many student residences as possible in order to reduce the accommodation shortage in the short term. Temporary accommodation projects offered the only possibility of achieving our goal. Meanwhile, plans were also being laid out for new construction projects, but these require a significantly longer period to be realised.
In order to play a significant role in the Amsterdam market, DUWO entered into collaboration with the Algemene Woningbouw Vereniging (AWV) and Woningstichting Rochdale and opened an office on the Spinozastraat. This gave us enough clout to realise expansion in the short term and become a significant player in the Amsterdam market. The Amsterdam district authorities also played their part by providing several million euros in subsidy in order to facilitate swift results.
Living in a building to be demolished
DUWO were keen to spring straight into action: empty residences in various city districts, primarily in Amsterdam South East, were converted into student accommodation. In this case, temporary accommodation was provided in buildings that were later to be demolished. There was huge interest in this type of accommodation, as there still is today. Hundreds of students have been provided accommodation in this way, including in former council offices and in the nearby Kliq building in Slotervaart, where students were involved in the renovation.
Other temporary student accommodation
One of the more striking undertakings performed by the three corporations was the acquisition of a former cruise ship that was converted into student accommodation. The ship, which has been moored on the banks of the IJ in Amsterdam for a period five years, is equipped with 192 ‘cabins’. 190 students also live in temporary accommodation on the shore next to the ship, in former asylum-seeker accommodation. These residences were acquired via Kences from the Centraal Orgaan Opvang Asielzoekers [Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers], that was confronted with empty residences following the introduction of tight immigration regulations.
A third project that was given life in 2004 involved the provision of temporary accommodation on the banks of the IJ bay in North Amsterdam, where 350 residences light up the landscape in red, orange, blue and white. 2005 saw the conversion of former asylum-seeker accommodation on the Zuiderzeeweg in Zeeburg for use as student accommodation. The accompanying office block has also been converted to provide additional student accommodation.
Temporary student accommodation has also been realised away from Amsterdam. As 2004 drew to a close, a student village rose from the ashes of former asylum-seeker accommodation near Leiden University.
A year earlier, space boxes and container accommodation were realised for international students on the Leeghwaterstraat in Delft.