Rotterdam in development

117 R O T T E R D A M I N D E V E L O P M E N T | 2 0 1 8 the finish. The ready-made harbour lofts are then towed to the Nassauhaven, where robust mooring poles hold the concrete pontoons, with their 130-square-metre surfaces, firmly in place. Additional stability is provided by linking two pontoons together. ALMOST SELF-SUFFICIENT The term ‘loft’ refers to the freely sub-divisible space these floating homes offer, with a living area of around 134 to 177 m2. Buyers can choose their preferred size and style in terms of floors (the standard two storeys or three split-level storeys) and partition walls (size and number of rooms). Finally, they can choose whether the platforms are laid crosswise or parallel to the quay. The homes achieve excellent scores for sustainability, with solar panels, no gas connection, a pellet heating installation (biomass burner) and their own water purification installation. Figdor: “Apart from the mandatory water connection, the harbour lofts are almost entirely self-sufficient.” A connection to the electricity grid is necessary to compensate for a surplus or a shortage of electricity. WATER- AND GROUND PLOT Under private law, the harbour lofts are something of an odd one out in respect of obtaining a mortgage. The architect and builder explain: “The water homes at Steigereiland in Amsterdam, for example, are listed in the Shipping register. Our harbour lofts, on the other hand, will be recorded as immovable property. They are located on a water plot, but there is a ground plot beneath them, and that is a decisive factor. The municipality leases these ground plots in perpetuity.” Everything is described in legal detail minutes. There already are two banks which offer a mortgage on this basis. VARIOUS BUYERS “With only little sales advertising, all 18 harbour lofts have already been provisionally sold,” Sluimer says. And the great thing is: the interest is not only coming from Rotterdam. “We have buyers from Nuenen, Breda, Leiden and even one from Amsterdam,” says Figdor. The group of buyers is diverse: young and old, couples and families as well as single persons. They have a common denominator: they all want to be on the water. Harbour Lofts Nassauhaven is a pilot project supported by the City of Rotterdam in collaboration with a number of parties like the province of South Holland, the Directorate for Public Works and Water Management, the World Wide Fund of Nature, Ecoshape and ARK Natuurontwikkeling . The project will deepen the harbour and develop a tidal park with an eco friendly riverbank. The creation of tidal park Nassauhaven is part of the ‘River as a Tidal Park’ program and co-facilitated by the European Union’s LIFE funding program.The architect and builder focus everything they do on delivering, as they say in the trade, “a good living product”. Only then the pilot can succeed. Later on, they will aim their attention on other harbours that could use an extra injection of vitality. Harbour Lofts Nassauhaven ‘How “Rotterdam-style” do you want your home to be?’ Floating Pavilion in the Rijnhaven