Municipality of Rijswijk and VanWonen sign anterior agreement for UrbanParks

As a former business park, Havenkwartier is currently a barren district with many vacant buildings. In Havenkwartier, the harbour and the Vliet canal offer great opportunities for pleasant living and relaxing. In the coming years, the business park near the harbour of Rijswijk will be transformed into a lively, green city district with a mix of commercial use, housing and recreation. Havenkwartier will be a modern, creative and attractive new city district with nautical qualities. Here, around the attractive city harbour, people will be able to live, work and recreate in a hip environment with all amenities, such as cosy restaurants, a gym and a local supermarket, within easy reach.

UrbanParks
UrbanParks is part of this area development and consists of unique green residential and commercial buildings, which are connected by a plinth. The many attractive little parks and roof gardens turn the new location into a green haven. 

Mireille Jeurnink, VanWonen Director of Property Development: “With the agreement for this area development, we are transforming a former business park into a vibrant new area that combines living and working. It will be a wonderful new location for living, working and relaxing in the heart of the new Havenkwartier in Rijswijk.”

Varied range of housing
UrbanParks offers a varied range of housing for a broad target group. It consists of affordable and medium-priced homes, ranging from studios to spacious three-bedroom apartments. The smaller homes are ideal for young professionals and first-time home buyers. There will also be some 220 parking spaces in the location itself, as well as the possibility to park in the nearby parking hub.

Alderman Armand van de Laar: “As a municipality, we are delighted with this development. The range of housing that UrbanParks offers, with a relatively large number of affordable and medium-priced homes, fits in well with the planning objectives of the municipality of Rijswijk to develop more homes in this segment. These homes are particularly suitable for people moving up on the housing ladder and people with a medium income who are not (or no longer) eligible for social housing.”

Biodiversity, climate adaptation, and social cohesion
In the UrbanParks plan, biodiversity plays a major role. Through the use of specific landscaping and planting, the flora and fauna are enhanced. The building and surroundings are designed to be climate-adaptive. Abundant rainwater is stored to slowly release it over time and to reuse it. There will also be many shared outdoor spaces. UrbanParks is designed in such a way that meeting neighbours and interacting with them is stimulated.

Start of construction planned for 2025
The vacant office buildings have already been demolished. The participation process with local residents and other stakeholders started in 2022. The input from the participation process will be used to flesh out the UrbanParks plan in more detail. After the zoning plan amendment, the construction of UrbanParks will start in the first half of 2025. It is expected that the first homes will be handed over in the second half of 2027.