Westerhuizen district gets a new lease of life...

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Entry posted by dazflint · January 17, 2015

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As promised, Westerhuizen has received a whole host of improvements under the terms of the Strategic Development Funds.

Historically, Westerhuizen was a small suburb on the 'wrong' side of the river from the historic town centre. There were (and still are) a handful of traditional Dutch cottages along the river banks, but most of the housing stock is late Nineteenth Century, dark brick terrace housing. These small, ugly homes have mostly fallen into a state of disrepair, and Westerhuizen is easily Nieuwezee's poorest, least-loved neighbourhood. Here's an aerial photo from last year:

Now things are changing! Firstly, the town council has repaved the centre of Westerhuizen in attractive red brick. This complements the darker brick housing which dominates the area. The repaving has been enhanced with new tree planting, and pedestrian precincts have been added to close off some of the back-streets and prevent 'through traffic'. The result is a neighbourhood which is quieter and more pleasant for pedestrians. Here's a close-up:

And that's not all. The main street has been developed with a new suite of civic buildings; a community college, primary school and a stunning new library:

The new development is in the top right of the picture...

Here's a closer view of the library, which (as you'll see!) is cleverly shaped like a set of open books. The design has been short-listed for several architectural prizes...

Behind the library you can see the new Community College. It's a rather more modest building, yet still a boon for the people of Westerhuizen... and indeed for the whole of Nieuwezee. As well as hosting community space, the college provides adult education and evening courses for families and citizens on low incomes...

In these two views you can see the whole 'civic suite' set amongst new plazas and walkways. At the back you see the Primary School. It's a compact modern building, with spaces only for the few dozen local kids of primary age... No longer do parents have to drive their kids half way across town to get to school!

The other building of note is the old Leatherworks, which long since sat half-empty (except for a funeral parlour on its East side). The building has been redeveloped into a health centre, as part of the local improvement works. Again, folk in Westerhuizen can now access local services without having to cross the bridge to the Old Town. Here's a close view:

The funeral parlour is closest to us here; entrance to the Health Centre is along the main road, beside the car park.

That gives us a sense of the civic improvements which have been made to Westerhuizen. As a result, local housing demand has sky-rocketed. The council has laid out four new streets, all of which have been developed by private contractors to provide small, affordable housing units:

These developments have added nearly 500 homes, more than 1,000 residents to Westerhuizen's population.

Here's a ground-level photo taken from the small park, which you can see near the top of the last image:

As you can see, the modern housing units are small but inviting and the developers are creating pleasant 'human scale' places to live.

That's all there is to see in Westerhuizen for now; over the next few years we can expect to see low-rise apartment buildings finished close to the 'civic suite' (where construction has already begun). A group of local residents is also petitioning the council to give them use of a patch of riverside land, for a new Community Garden. You've probably noticed, Nieuwezee's council is quite liberal and I can't expect them to refuse this request... ;-)

In closing, here's a long-shot of Westerhuizen in all its new-found glory.