Sturdy, tough and proud

With careful pace, Henk Hartzema walks past the new shopping center Twentec and the refreshed V &D department store, onto the H.J. van Heekplein. The urban planner visibly enjoys what has been built in recent years. ‘I think the casino is the most beautiful building. There is something very sturdy and tight, but subtly packaged. A very traditional building, I personally think it is the most beautiful thing that the Inbo agency from Eindhoven has made so far. Modernism has made architecture much too abstract, buildings have been simplified too much. In the casino you can see the hand of the master. Take a look at the masonry. This shows love for the profession. And love and dignity, that’s what life is all about.’

Henk Hartzema was one of the many guests invited to the opening of the Twentec shopping center yesterday. Because the 8,500 square meters that have been built here were also in the portfolio of the Rotterdam urban planner. Hartzema says that the facelift that Enschede has undergone is unique in the Netherlands.

‘Normally, a municipality works with a project developer. After the green light by the city council, such companies usually wrap a large fence around the construction pit and delivers a building after a few years. The municipality, which is not involved in anything else, gets ten million, and that’s it. But in Enschede, the municipality has kept the steering role. And that is very special. In my opinion, that is worth a big compliment. By concluding a contract with each party separately, this has caused a lot of hassle. “But if Enschede hadn’t acted like that, the Van Heekplein would never have become so beautiful.’

Risk

‘The municipality here has taken a huge risk, stuck its neck out a long way. But it has worked out well. The board has received something special in return. For a responsible alderman, such a job is no easy task. A director of a real estate firm simply has more financial leeway than a portfolio holder of Economic Affairs. City administrators are also more often judged on their work.’

Negotiating with the top of the national real estate world. It looks like a dog job, but Henk Hartzema doesn’t shy away from it. Unlike his fellow townsman Riek Bakker, also no stranger to Enschede, he doesn’t need expletives to get everyone on the same page.

‘Of course, the investors and I have our own agenda. But because everyone has their own

Defends interests, it is clear and orderly for me. I only have one agenda: the city has to become beautiful.’

According to Hartzema, the negotiations were ‘tough but constructive’. ‘I leave the commercial guys in their value, of course. They have years of experience in selling stuff, which is expertise I don’t have. But I know how to make a city beautiful. The nice thing about the job in Enschede was that none of the parties towered high above the other. So the investors were not able to blow each other away at the table, they were chained to each other. So something had to come out together. And now building after building has been realized. As it should be, and not project after project that was given an individual architectural flavour. Or where some frills and detailing had to be applied after delivery to make it all look a bit smaller and cozier. As happened with the Koopgoot in Rotterdam, for example.’

The key to the success of the Van Heekplein is not only the directing role of the municipality. According to Henk Hartzema, the strength of the new heart Van Heekplein lies in the chosen order of development.

‘First, a system of public spaces was created. This makes the square easily accessible from all sides. That is very valuable. Normally it goes the other way around. A blueprint of the outdoor space has been made. And then the building masses were drawn. The scale on which this happened is very special by Dutch standards. This approach deserves to be followed. A good flow of traffic, sufficient parking space and the necessary square meters, I started working on those aspects.’

Henk Hartzema walks approvingly on the smooth pavement of the Van Heekplein. A space that marks the new Enschede. On the east side, work is still underway on the next shopping centre that will open on 30 October, the Klanderij. A complex that in the past two previous owners had bitten their teeth on. It was only when Foruminvest came forward and urban planner Pi de Bruin started to interfere with the appearance, that things suddenly went crescendo. At the time, the creator of the new Roombeek neighborhood wanted to work with the new investors under one condition: the existing buildings had to be completely demolished. The grandmaster only put his signature under a completely new building.

Eradiation

His young Rotterdam colleague nods in agreement to the stone complex that is larger in length than the Casino and the Bijenkorf combined. ‘It fits in nicely with the rest of the buildings. But as far as I am concerned, an extra floor could have been added. That would only have benefited the image. Initially, no houses were drawn on the Klanderij. In my opinion, that was not possible. A city center without houses, that is unimaginable. A Klanderij that is too high is not beautiful either, the façade on the north side of the square then pales somewhat.’

‘I expect that, by the way. the owners of these shops have their facades beautified in due course. They now appear poorly compared to the new building. The old buildings detonate. I do like the building on the corner of the Raadhuisstraat. That must date from the 50s. The time when modernism became popular. Here you can see that craftsmanship. That appeals to me enormously. Sturdy, tough and proud. That suits Enschede. The town hall, the church and the theatre also radiate that. Such a shopping center Twentec with its bricks is guaranteed to be there for a hundred years. That’s what you do it for. You can even house companies in it. It is quite the opposite of a decorated commercial formula.’