Amsterdam to become first Dutch city with a fully-wooden neighbourhood

Sick of concrete and PVC? A whopping 700 wooden houses will be built in Mandelabuurt, Amsterdam, making it the first neighbourhood made completely from wood.

The Mandelabuurt consists of 10 buildings and is expected to house a grand total of 2,100 people, reports AD.

Who gets to live there?

So, who are the lucky ducks that are expected to make this wooden haven their home? Well, you could be one of them! The municipality plans to make the neighbourhood 40% social rent, 40% middle segment divided between owner-occupied and rental. 🏠

Only 20% will be free sector housing. Whew, what a relief! 😅

The municipality will allocate a quarter of homes to residents of the Zuidoost district who lived there for at least six of the past 10 years — as it should. 💪

An Amsterdam-based housing association will handle the social rent homes in the neighbourhood.

On a sustainable streak

The construction of this neighbourhood should start in 2025, and the municipality expects the first homes to be completed a year later. 👷 Many building companies use wood but they usually combine it with steel and concrete to reinforce the building.

But Dutch builders are going on a “wooden revolution”. Wood stores carbon dioxide (CO2) while traditional materials like steel and concrete release CO2 when produced.

Companies are calling for regulations that make sustainable building practices more financially attractive, particularly for building with bio-based materials like wood. 🪵

And the revolution is proving to be effective! In an effort to meet Amsterdam’s sustainability ambitions, the municipality agreed to make 20% of new constructions timber-based by 2025. 💪

Would you want to live in wooden housing? Tell us what you think in the comments! 💭