Rijnhuizen Nieuwegein
Transformation area with a history
Rijnhuizen has beautiful nature, water for sailing and fishing, a fort with a park and a castle with a garden. It’s also an 80-acre business park with 100 owners in transformation. Rijnhuizen is still a hidden treasure. But plenty of people are interested in living in such a central location in the Netherlands. So it’s time to make Rijnhuizen a beautiful and recognisable residential, working and living area. Time for transformation. The network that’s making this happen is Club Rhijnhuizen.
Club Rhijnhuizen was founded in 2016 by Emilie Vlieger and Hans Karssenberg. The transformation in the area began with housing development, demolition/new-build and transformation. We work together with the club members on enhancing quality and identity. Rijnhuizen is an area with 100 owners that is being gradually and organically developed. Each new development and each initiative, small and large, contributes to the identity and reinforces the qualities of the area when cooperation is effective.
Citymaking together: cooperative area development
Club Rhijnhuizen emerged from the need expressed by various developers, the Municipality of Nieuwegein and the Province of Utrecht to generate more cooperation in the transformation of Rijnhuizen. The Club works closely with the municipality and province, but it’s not a government agency. It operates independently and is financed and managed by members.
The Club is a network that enables residents, employees and businesses to feel more at home. It allows new entrepreneurs and initiators to get to know the area, welcomes new residents to a warm environment and gives owners and developers the opportunity to work towards a high-quality transformation. The first Club Evening began with 10 people, but now we have a list of 300 participants, and we give a new project developer or initiator a tour of the area almost every week.
The Club has an independent business case based on a percentage of the contribution made by project developers to the area and the membership fees paid by owners and users. An area cooperative was set up for this purpose.
The Club initially hinged on four pillars:
- Enhance the area’s quality and sustainability
- Placemaking, from space to place, placemaking coalitions, contests and events
- Matchmaking, market-government-society
- Promote the area, share information and improve the image.
We’re now working collectively on the quality and recognition of Rijnhuizen by:
- organising club days around themes important to Rijnhuizen
- organising or facilitating (and sometimes financing) local events
- supporting and promoting new facilities
- promoting sustainability in the ‘Rijnhuizen is bursting with energy’ platform
- conducting area marketing based on the following positioning: ‘Rijnhuizen: roots in development’
- advising on the transformation and quality of public space
Rijnhuizen is bursting with energy
In recent years, Club Rhijnhuizen has worked behind the scenes and together with local partners for a sustainable Rijnhuizen. They have gathered a great deal of information and created a considerable network. Several companies and organisations have been given a quick scan from LBP|SIGHT to make their premises more sustainable. And it’s now almost certain that a district heating network will be installed. Rijnhuizen is one of the Ministry’s national pilot projects and is bursting with energy.
This assignment has ended for STIPO, but it will always holds a place in our hearts and we will remain involved in further development.
