Projectduration: ongoing since 2022

Project management
– Design team
– Technical solutions
Cost estimates
Investment models
Sustainability
Permits
Subsidies and funding
Social value
Finance
Construction supervision
Vision for exploitation
Contracting Tenants

Since February 2021, Het Groote Kantoor is owned by BOEi, after winning the tender procedure from DSM. Het Groote Kantoor was built in 1907 as an office for the Royal Dutch Yeast and Spirits Factory. The impressive office building also provided space for the management of the Dutch Oil Factories (Calvé) and a small space for the glue factory. The designers K. Muller and B. Schelling took this into account in the design: the left wing was for the Yeast factory (their factory was to the left of the building), the right wing for Calvé (their site was to the right of the building). As a building style they chose the Um-1800 style which uses traditional elements such as natural stone, oriel windows and ornaments in combination with modern construction methods. They topped it off with a distinctive central dome with colored glass in steel trusses in the heart of the building. Van Marken unfortunately died just before the opening of the Groote Kantoor. His wife opened the office as a tribute to her husband’s work.

Apart from the beautiful façade and glass roof, the history of this building and the site of the yeast factory is quite unique as well. Social entrepreneur and technologist Jacques van Marken (1845-1906) had visionary ideas which later on inspired policy makers to establish a care system for the Dutch residents: He created facilities for his workers that would not become commonplace until seventy years later, including pension plans, health insurance and a works council. His whole life he worked on his mantra of ‘being useful to society‘.

This building has the potential to become the living heart of a new neighborhood in the coming years. It will be restored and repurposed into a high-quality office building with reception areas. The entire restoration and repurposing process is expected to take around seven years. The transformation will be carried out in phases. We inform the public of the progress of the restoration at regular intervals by giving presentations, a yearly information market stall at the Van Marken day and by updating the public through regular newsletters. During restoration, the building can’t be opened for public due to safety reasons. The first tenants are expected to be able to move into the characteristic building in 2027. The building is among others intended for companies with a link to the legacy of Jacques van Marken. BOEi therewith provides a National monument that will become useful to society once again, as it was intended for.