De Zwaan apartment complex extensively renovated

Designing buildings that are worth preserving is something we have been doing at atelier PRO for years — and this also shows, for example, our 1985 project De Zwaan in Voorburg, which was already sustainable at the time and has recently been renovated by the owners.

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The De Zwaan apartment complex consists of two parts: an elongated, low and light volume with social housing, which turns into a nine-storey tower with homes for sale. The iconic building designed by architect Hans van Beek was named one of the best buildings in the Netherlands in 1986, but in recent years, time has begun to take its toll. In particular, the stucco of the tower gradually became defective and fire safety and insulation also had to be examined again.

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The entire shell of the high-rise building - including frames and windows - has been replaced by a more insulating version, and fire safety and durability have also been significantly improved in general terms. What is special about this is that the renovation was carried out by the VvE. And where such a project is already quite a task for a housing association, it is an enormous achievement for a medium-sized VvE with limited resources.

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So all praise to the driver of the renovation, VvE Corbulokade, who, together with the 36 owners, contractors and a financier, worked to come to a plan. The process was partly due to the efforts of Focus Vastgoed Group, Warmtefonds, Dibotherm B.V., BANQ geveltechniek BV, Municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg and the old and new VvE board.