In earlier times, the site was the domain of road builder Hemmen. The more than 7,000-square-meter area, which borders the ash tree on one side, contains a small white house, a large shed and a residential and retail building containing the electric bicycle store Amslod.
Since last week, the site has been owned by Woonstaete of Barneveld. This project developer bought it from Education Group Noord, which in turn acquired it in 2013 to build a new home for the green school Terra. Nothing came of those plans. After resistance from the neighborhood, which was not waiting for a school with some 900 students at this already crowded location, Terra got a new school building in Noordbarge.
,,Through our network we heard that this plot in Emmen was for sale. After we looked into it, we became enthusiastic. It is an interesting building location. Close to the center and an important arterial road," says Patrick Hafkamp, development manager of Woonstaete. After the municipality of Emmen made it known that apartment construction on this site could be discussed, Woonstaete took over the site from Onderwijsgroep Noord.
It will be the Gelderland-based company's second project in Drenthe. It previously developed two residential villas on Gasgracht in Meppel. How many apartments and buildings Woonstaete will have built on the newly acquired land in Emmen and how tall these buildings will be is still unclear. ''We are really still at the beginning of the planning process,'' said Hafkamp.
What is clear is that the buildings that are there now - the white house, the large shed and the residential and retail building - will eventually have to be demolished. They are buildings that have been there for many decades and do not represent monumental value.
Woonstaete works with steel frame construction, a method similar to timber frame construction. It uses steel frames that are made in the factory completely finished. This is done at M-frame Staalframebouw/DNN-group in Zwartemeer, which Woonstaete partly owns. The advantage of this method is a relatively short construction period. The houses and apartments are also very well insulated, so the residents have little or no energy costs''.
Diagonally opposite the proposed construction site, on the other side of the traffic lights, stands the Hondsrugtoren. At 65 meters, this is the tallest residential building in Drenthe. Such a tall tower could rise there because the municipality had designated this spot for it in the so-called high-rise vision. The area where Woonstaete wants to build is not put forward for this purpose in this vision.
Source: Dagblad van het Noorden, Jan Willem Horstman
Photo: Gerrit Boer
