Almost 3,000 new homes have been built in Eindhoven this year, a record for the city.
Faced with an increasing number of students, expats, and migrant workers urgently looking for accommodation in Eindhoven, the municipality streamlined the process in 2017.
Under new guidelines, developers can begin construction earlier, projects in high demand are given priority, and the municipality is actively approaching project developers to speed up construction, providing paperwork and permits.
The approach appears to have worked. Councillor Yasin Torunoglu said, “we’re now seeing comparable output to Utrecht, and higher than The Hague – both much larger cities. There is demand, and I hear poignant stories from people who are urgently seeking a home in the city. The pressure on the housing market is enormous. To help people, and to bring down unprecedentedly high prices, we need to keep building”.
The municipality expects a further 3,000 new homes per year will be constructed. Projects in the pipeline include residential towers on Stationsplein, on Marconiplein, and in Strijp-S, as well as other homes on Vestdijk and in the area between Witte Dame and the Philips Stadium.
“There is a particular demand for cheap, mid-sized houses and apartments. We want 75% of new constructions to fall into this category. We succeeded in 2019 and we’d like to maintain that in the next few years”, says Torunoglu.
Many construction projects were halted this year following a court ruling based on evidence that nitrogen emissions were damaging nature reserves. However, Torunoglu says Eindhoven has not yet seen this issue. Earlier the councillor had announced that most projects could continue, with the exception of District E. “We are still looking into how the project can continue with less nitrogen emissions”.
This year, new homes have been delivered in the former Philips school on Frederiklaan and the old TD building on Edenstraat, as well as temporary student units at the Berenkuil, the Onyx tower on Mathildelaan, and hundreds of houses in areas such as Woensel-West and Meerhoven.
For decades, the average construction output in Eindhoven was around 1,000 homes per year.
Source: Studio040
