Construction of Roelof van Echten College in Bentinckspark has been started

August 21, 2013
With the laying of the first foundation brick and the burying of a time capsule, city councillor Ton Bargeman recently kicked-off the construction of the new Roelof van Echten College in Bentinckspark on Friday 31 May 2013. After the realisation of the football complex in 2012, the second phase of Bentinckspark is now being realised. The school will get a prominent position in the Education & Sports Campus at Bentinckspark. In future students will benefit in the physical education lessons from the new athletics track and the sports halls. City Councillor Bargeman: “The sports campus falls in line with modern education. The youngsters in Hoogeveen also deserve a good environment where they're able to discover and develop their talents by studying and playing sports. This beautiful building most certainly contributes to this.” The Roelof van Echten College was designed by RAU Architecten in Amsterdam and has an exceptionally sustainable character which falls in line with the aims and objectives of Bentinckspark.

The environment and an extensive green room surrounded by mature oak trees determined the positioning of the building. In addition, an all-round orientation with accentuations at the end walls along Mr. Cramerweg and the future activities centre, played a prominent role. The grounds were designed by MTD landschapsarchitecten, as was the rest of Bentinckspark. The school and the grounds are inextricably linked to each other by way of a visual relationship through the central lobby of the building. The reception plaza on the Mr. Cramerweg side contains a pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) point and three tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) in a raised grassy island. Parking space for bicycles is situated along the sheltered side of the building in a long strip along the edge of the grounds, so that the sunniest spots of the square are available for a paved square with evergreen trees and raised grassy slopes with multi-trunked trees.

Since 2007 MTD landschapsarchitecten has been involved in the development of Bentinckspark. After drawing up an Urban Development Schedule of Requirements (2009) which was supported and adopted by the council, the definite and technical design of the subareas was elaborated. Bentinckspark is a sports park situated in the heart of Hoogeveen, in a water-catchment area that contains mature flora. The grounds are being redeveloped by the municipality, because the sports facilities and public space was worn out. A rather special aspect is the relocation of functions, immediately enabled the start of the realisation, while for other subareas the planning processes follows another time frame. This makes the plan purposeful (the users and neighbouring residents can see that the municipality is making serious headway with the redevelopment) and flexible to take up future developments and considerations in the plan.

The implementation of the football complex makes other sections of the park available for redevelopment. After the realisation of the football complex for two clubs at the eastern end of the park, it's time for the school grounds. In the forthcoming years, the implementation of the athletics campus and the activities centre with a sports hall (2014) are planned. Thereafter the entrance and parking space will be finished (2017). This will be the finalisation of the core of Bentinckspark. There are also plans to realise a new hockey and korfball complex as well as a city park for unorganised sports, although these have been postponed due to cutbacks. Follow the completion of Bentinckspark at the special website.