Over a thousand student flats are set to be added at Dorgelolaan 9C. Property developer CRA Vastgoed has received the go-ahead from Eindhoven City Council.
This means the developer can now begin planning the construction of more than a thousand student residences.
CRA intends to build two towers, one of which is designed in the shape of a square doughnut. According to CRA, it will be a real eye-catcher: ‘What’s more, we are visible from the Berenkuil, the gateway to KnoopXL. An iconic statement is fitting here.’
The new development will help meet the demand for more student housing – new arrivals to the city have been struggling to find accommodation for years. What’s more, the towers will be located close to both the TU/e campus and Eindhoven city centre.
Debate
With the addition of the student towers, the council is making significant progress in its housing programme, though the plans had previously faced heavy criticism. The PvdA and GroenLinks, among others, expressed concern that including the student housing within KnoopXL would undermine the affordability targets for the Fellenoord project.
By creating a thousand (social) student flats on Dorgelolaan, the argument went, a thousand fewer affordable homes would need to be built elsewhere within KnoopXL. However, the council has stated it will not resort to such creative accounting, insisting that the same affordability requirements will still apply on the original KnoopXL site.
Boundary stretched
The Dorgelolaan site lay partly outside the KnoopXL planning zone, which was originally designated solely for commercial development. ‘This meant we could build one residential tower within KnoopXL, but the largest building would fall outside that boundary,’ explains Michiel Jongmans, director of CRA Vastgoed. ‘By stretching the boundaries of KnoopXL, we can add 600 more homes, bringing the total to around 1,000.’
Affordable
However, this political debate raises the question of whether student housing should, by definition, be classified as affordable. An affordable student room costs around 400 euros per month, and student housing costing more than 700 euros is unaffordable for students with a normal income, even though it is classified as such.
‘We want to avoid situations like in Amsterdam, where a student room costs around 950 euros,’ says Jongmans. ‘All homes will fall under the social rent threshold. In addition, students can also receive rent allowance for studios. So politics is also moving in that direction.’
‘But it is true that there is also a demand for affordable housing among students, which is why some of the buildings will contain student rooms, with shared facilities such as bathrooms and kitchens. There will also be “Friends homes”, where three students each have a room and share the rest of the flat,’ says Jongmans.
2029
The sketches for the student towers must be ready by the end of this year, and the participation process must be completed by 2026. Preparatory work, such as the demolition of the office buildings that are currently still standing, must start in 2027 so that the first tower can be completed in 2029.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Chaitali Sengupta.
