De Warren housing cooperative is going to build - 36 sustainable social and medium-priced rental homes

The energy piles for De Warren, the first self-build housing cooperative in Amsterdam, can be ordered. Last Friday the building contract was signed, the result of a year of intensive collaboration with the architect, consultants and the contractor. Construction can now start for the development of the 36 energy-positive, wooden, social and medium-priced rental homes that will be rented out in-house to the members of the housing cooperative.

Three years ago, De Warren won the first tender that was specially issued as a pilot for housing cooperatives by the municipality of Amsterdam. From that moment on, De Warren worked with her architect Natrufied Architecture and the 50 members of the community to design a sustainable and social building. This design was worked out in a construction team in collaboration with sustainable building advice from Eco+Bouw, installation advice from Duurzaam aan de Zaan and Kodi, the constructor of Pieters Bouwtechniek and contractorToekomstGroep. Together they have arrived at a design ready for implementation and construction can start in 2021.

De Warren will be built in an extremely sustainable way: with a hybrid wooden supporting structure, a large green facade, energy-positive and 30 percent of the building is designed for shared functions and spaces. “It is unique to develop such a sustainable building for such affordable rents all by yourself,” says Gerard Roemers, board member Sustainability & Construction at De Warren. “It really is a project that we do together, with our community, and together with our architect, consultants and the contractor. This is the only way we can build sustainably and affordably.” Boris Zeisser, architect of Natrufied Architecture adds: “It is great to work with a group for whom sustainable building is the standard. The combination of different types of wood construction such as CLT, Glulam, hsb, facade finishes and frames, the use of used bollards, and the generation of own heat and energy show how seriously De Warren takes this”. Ton van Langen, director of the FutureGroep: “We can live up to our slogan 'Through Cooperation Strong'. ToekomstGroep is a progressive company and we attach great importance to sustainability and circularity, which is why we fit together so well”.

Jacob-Jan Koopmans, the treasurer, explains how the project was financed: “Most of the money comes from the GLS bank, a cooperative bank from Germany, we also borrow from a participation fund. We have supplemented all this with a number of sustainability subsidies and a successful crowdfunding”. Now that the contract has been signed, the money from the bank, the participation fund and the crowdfunding will be released. This means that ToekomstGroep can start with the construction preparation and ordering of building materials. For the implementation, she will work together with HIG Building Solutions, installation and plumbing company J&P and with Kodi Energy-saving Techniques.

At the beginning of 2021, the first energy piles will go into the ground and after a month of DIY jobs, the residents of the community will move in in the summer of 2022. After completion, the building will be jointly owned by the housing cooperative itself and the members will manage it themselves. Together with its partners, De Warren realizes perpetual social and medium-price rent in a very sustainable building on Center Island in Amsterdam. (Source: De Warren housing cooperative)

Construction
The Warren is a concrete building in construction, the columns on the floors are made of wood, the ground floor has 1 load-bearing wooden wall and part of the 3rd floor has a wooden floor with wooden beams.

Furthermore, the wood is mainly architectural. For example, facades, interior walls and the concrete staircase are covered with wood.