Binnenhof is the home of the Dutch parliamentary democracy.
And it’s open for everyone to visit.
It’s a unique complex of buildings that has grown and been adapted over centuries.
And now a new renovation is needed because the construction and technical infrastructure require serious attention.
If they have to renovate, then they have to renovate. Otherwise it will be lost before long.
Judging by what I read in the papers it’s high time they did something about it.
I can’t imagine they’d have to close is for so many years, or that it has to cost that much.
As business owners on Lange Poten we’re worried
the reconstruction work is going to have a very negative impact on our businesses.
Binnenhof is leaky,
the roofs are in bad shape, there are cracks, there’s flooding in the cellars, technical infrastructure is outdated, cable ducts are overflowing…
Politicians work here but so do civil servants. Large numbers of tourists also visit Binnenhof.
We really need to renovate now to enable all these people to continue doing their work.
But also so that tourists can continue to visit Binnenhof.
We’re going to renovate the entire Binnenhof in one go.
We will work on all sections of the complex at the same time.
It’s a huge project.We have to renew all the roofs, for example.
That’s easily an area the size of five football pitches which we have to assemble.
At peak times about 750 construction workers will be working here.
We’re going to start renovations in 2020
and the project will be finished in 2025.
Unfortunately it’s impossible to complete the project without causing some local inconvenience.
This inconvenience will mostly be caused by the delivery and removal of materials and by noise.
Noise inconvenience might not be too bad because a lot of the work will take place inside the complex.
We aim to limit any inconvenience as much as possible.
During the renovation work local neighbourhoods such as Lange Poten and Plein will remain easily accessible.
Nothing will change before the summer of 2020 when the renovation work starts.
Binnenhof will function as normal, the lower and upper houses will continue to gather here.
And that means people will still be able to visit like they can now.
We are consulting with the Central Government Real Estate Agency, the municipality, ProDemos and local residents to work out how
to keep Binnenhof as accessible as possible during the renovations.
One suggestion is to build an aerial bridge over Binnenhof so you will be able to get a unique bird’s eye view of the complex.
Another idea is ‘hard hat tours’, which is a fun and exciting way of still being able to view this beautiful historical complex while renovations are ongoing.
The construction workers, the guys who will be working here, they will benefit us, of course.
Because people who work also need to eat.
I’m confident it will work out fine. Yes, why not? I assume there’s a plan and that it will be properly implemented.
So in the summer of 2020 we’re all moving out.
But hopefully we’ll be back as soon as possible!