Plan for the future

a new future plan

De Ceuvel started by winning a competition to transform an abandoned and contaminated shipyard into a circular and cultural breeding ground for 10 years. It has proven to be a great success. A vibrant community has emerged, a meeting place for the entire neighbourhood and city.

We have grown into a cultural stage for young and old and have become a flagship for sustainable solutions in the city. But after several years of extension, the municipality now genuinely wants to develop here: a cycle path with two bridges, 21 homes, and a permanent creative hub with plenty of public green space. If we were to follow the usual processes, De Ceuvel would have to be completely demolished at the start of 2027. The municipality would then excavate everything and start completely from scratch…

We say: there is another way!

We are not against the municipality’s plan to build affordable housing and a cycle path here, but propose tackling this together — in a cooperative development. We are eager to get started on a genuine further development of this wonderful place. Because that way De Ceuvel does not need to be demolished, but can instead build on all the value that has been built up here over the past 12 years.

We have therefore worked out a plan together with the members, the neighbourhood, and with landscape architect Steven Delva, cooperative business consultant Jasper Klapwijk, and lawyer Fabian Streefland. And what turns out: the cooperative plan is more sustainable, faster, and cheaper!

We have already presented our plans to the municipality and the city:

download our presentation here and read a Parool article about the plans here.


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What is the plan?

We want to develop further in phases, in collaboration with the neighbourhood and the municipality. Instead of demolishing everything at once, we can continue the successful experiment with the purifying garden. We make room for two bridges with a cycle path running between the boats. This makes De Ceuvel a connecting hub between the Pekbuurt and Buiksloterham. In one corner we will realise a housing cooperative with 21 affordable rental homes. Ceuvel residents already have experience realising innovative housing projects.

Think of the first self-developed housing cooperative De Warren, or the circular residential neighbourhood Schoonschip. In the other corner we will realise a nature-inclusive building for a permanent cultural creative hub, with studios, workshops, and a public showroom. The rest of the current Ceuvel can continue as a public park, with us taking on the management as an area cooperative. This way we can organically grow alongside the development of the city while preserving the soul of what has been built here.

At the same time, this is a unique opportunity for the city to gain experience with a new way of city-making. Instead of pushing aside local community initiatives and developing with large corporations, genuinely making the city together. So that the neighbourhood, local initiatives, and nature truly have a say in the future of the city. Also a necessary opportunity, because the current urban development model is under considerable pressure. Now that the municipality has less of its own land and the ‘equalisation fund’ — which normally funds social and cultural facilities — is running dry, alternative approaches must be tried. But that requires courage: no longer reasoning exclusively from conventional commercial tender policy, but daring to innovate.

How will we organise this well?

We are calling on the municipality to grant us — as a local community and association — the site directly, so that we can further develop De Ceuvel together with the municipality. In an area cooperative, the values of the Ceuvel community and the agreements about the development and management of the site will be safeguarded. The working community, the living community, the neighbourhood restaurant, nature (as a Zoöp), and the neighbourhood will all be represented in this area cooperative.

De Ceuvel is currently a working community of social entrepreneurs, but in the future a living community will also be established at De Ceuvel. The selection for the more profitable parts — such as the living community and future hospitality — will proceed via a transparent selection procedure. Here the area cooperative, together with the municipality, will assess which proposals best fit the mission.

The purifying park works!

During the time this site was used as a shipyard, heavy metals and oil residues seeped into the soil. From the very beginning of De Ceuvel, we chose to undertake an ambitious experiment with ‘phytoremediation’. Between the boats we planted various plants, herbs, and trees that are capable of drawing the contamination out of the ground — simply by growing! On park days we maintain the purifying plants together with groups of volunteers. Each year we measure contamination levels at various points in the soil and evaluate which plants are best able to extract certain types of contamination from the ground. And what turns out: a large part of De Ceuvel is now clean!

Other areas can continue to be cleaned by the plants, and one corner — precisely where housing construction is already planned — does genuinely need to be excavated. In short, we can largely finish the job with the purifying park! We have also, in collaboration with the municipal engineering bureau (IB), entered the data from our extensive measurements into the municipal system, and have shared our findings with civil servants and politicians. We propose continuing this successful experiment in a phased and hybrid manner.

This allows us to keep learning from self-cleaning gardens — it could potentially become a solution for the thousands of square metres of contaminated land in the city. It would also save the taxpayer a great deal of money. And of course, this means De Ceuvel does not need to be demolished, but can continue to develop. Read here the letter from Anke Wijnja — our park committee chair — to the Municipality: Proposal for Differentiated Soil Remediation at De Ceuvel.

How did this plan come about?

This plan originated here at De Ceuvel from our own members. In addition, we held several co-creation sessions and brainstorms with the neighbourhood, and sought input from a number of experts including Steven Delva, Jasper Klapwijk, and Fabian Streefland. We also presented the plans to the city during two Volkskeuken evenings and afterwards gathered what residents would like to see in the future.

We also presented a first version of the plans to alderman Steven van Weyenberg and district chair Brahim Abid. Last but not least, nature — through the Zoöp representative — has of course played an important role in these plans. We want to continue involving both the municipality and the neighbourhood and nature at various stages of development.

Do you want to think and act along? Then join us in this WhatsApp group!

direct award IS possible

The municipality is accustomed to working with complex tender procedures — a selection process in which commercial developers usually come out on top. However, it is also possible to organise this differently. Think, for example, of housing corporations where direct land allocation has been standard practice for decades. Under certain conditions, something similar is also possible for local social community initiatives.

In 2023, the Municipality of Amsterdam formulated three exceptional grounds for not having to tender: for highly unique projects, for extensions of lease or loan agreements, and in the public interest. All three grounds apply to De Ceuvel. Moreover, there are several projects where direct award has been used successfully. The residents’ initiative Het Wijkpaleis in Rotterdam, for example, recently took over a building directly from the municipality. The Binnenhaven in Almere, Coöperatie Woldwijk in Groningen, and studio complex Nieuw en Meer in Amsterdam have all been successfully awarded directly and developed cooperatively.

The Amsterdam Cooperative Alliance

In the run-up to the recent municipal council elections, extra momentum arose to better recognise and support the crucial services that local community initiatives provide to the city. The ‘Amsterdam Cooperative Alliance’, signed by ten parties from left to right, states that when it comes to civic social initiatives, we commit to direct award.

It is therefore time for the parties to put their money where their mouth is and embark on an experiment with cooperative development at De Ceuvel!

Read more about the Amsterdam Cooperative Alliance on the MeentCoop website.

Does it fit within the municipality’s plans?

Absolutely! We have carefully examined the existing plans of the Municipality of Amsterdam. These are set out in the ‘Herijking Investeringsbesluit Buiksloterham’ (HIB). We have ensured that our plans fit precisely within this municipal decision, including housing, a permanent creative hub, green space, bridges, and a cycle path. No spatial plans therefore need to be adjusted.

The only thing needed is courage from the municipality to organise the process differently. And to genuinely collaborate with its citizens.

Read more about the HIB here: Buiksloterham: sustainable redevelopment into a working and living area | Municipality of Amsterdam.

How are we going to pay for this?

Together with cooperative business consultant Jasper Klapwijk, we have worked out the financing and funding of our plans in detail. And what turns out: not only is it perfectly financeable using existing facilities, it would also save the taxpayer more than one million euros. Thanks to the purifying garden, less remediation is needed, and thanks to the phased hybrid construction plan, ground lease payments can begin earlier. Furthermore, our plan requires no discount. We can simply pay market-rate ground lease, based on the municipality’s requirements for affordable rental and social use.

Download Jasper Klapwijk’s analysis here. And see below some overviews of the financing budget, the construction planning, and the social cost savings:

how can you get involved?

A lot is going to happen in the coming years and there are all kinds of ways to become part of the community, support De Ceuvel, or be involved.

  • At De Ceuvel’s birthday we are launching the campaign to convince the municipality to award us the plots directly. Get your free ticket here!
  • We continue to engage with both politicians and civil servants to jointly find the best form for cooperative development. Cooperative development represents a breakthrough for the city and requires close collaboration, so that we learn how to make the city together!
  • In the meantime we are strengthening the community and seeking the resources to finance the development. We are arranging loans, grants, and launching a crowdfunding campaign just like at the start of De Ceuvel in 2014.
  • In the future there will be various ways to become a member of the cooperative. Amsterdam residents / Noorderlingen can register for the housing cooperative via the waiting list. Places in the working community will become available for social entrepreneurs. In the future there will also be a general membership, giving you free access to events and workshops and a discount in the café. We will share more details about memberships during the course of the year! 
  • Once the plots are awarded to us, the real work begins. With a growing community we will enrich the existing plans and make many choices about the recruitment of new members, the buildings, the design of the public space, energy and water infrastructure, the social architecture of the communities, and more. 

Want to stay informed about all developments in the coming period?