Young, Hip, and Fresh

About the project series of The Student Hotel

Since April the 3rd 2017, the old Parool tower and the Trouw building are officially a thing
of the past: together, the two buildings form the Student Hotel Amsterdam City from now on. Initiator Charlie MacGregor wants to provide young people from abroad with accommodation and a network. The changing, young and fresh mind can be found from A to Z throughout the whole project.

Renewed due to success

Thanks to Bectro, ULC got involved in this project. What started as one unique project, became a recurring series due to great success. In total, seven Student Hotels have been completed now and two more will be added. The Student Hotels are located in Groningen, Amsterdam West, Amsterdam City, Rotterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Maastricht and later also in Utrecht and Delft. The two still to be completed installations of The Student Hotels in Utrecht, Maastricht and Delft will be picked up entirely by Bectro.

Interesting on these series of projects is the size of the preparation team within ULC. The team, led by Bastiaan van der Mooren, consists of three men, all under the age of 35. “The advantages of this are that you can respond to each other very quickly and choices are made quickly,” says the project manager. That is why the project was not delayed, while major adjustments were requested during construction. For example, the technical room would not be placed on the thirteenth floor of the old Parool tower but in the basement of the old Trouw building.

Due to the rapid handling and the flexibility of both the ULC and Bectro teams, the installation period remained as long as planned. The space on the thirteenth floor now functions as an office space with a beautiful view. TSH does not only want to deliver design accommodations for a better price, but The Student Hotel also aims to connect people.

In general, Bectro delivered all electro-technical installations and ULC all mechanical installations. Normally ULC delivers Advice & Installation; in this case there has been a design and build contract. In addition to the usual installations, ULC and Bectro also provided design and execution. ULC did not have to make any architectural choices in the building, but in the design of the installations. An important choice here is that of installing radiators along the façade, or installing underfloor heating. Since the circumstances vary per floor, the choice of installations varies per floor.

Saving through technology

The heating costs are now being reduced significantly thanks to the HCS installation that is installed by ULC. The hotel uses just as much gas as 36 households. If you compare that with the energy consumption, which is very little, since the hotel uses as much electricity as is used in 250 households. This is registered by another innovative development applied by ULC and Bectro: energy monitoring. The actual usage is compared with the theoretical approach which is based on a prediction. Deviations can now be analyzed and the possible solutions can be examined more quickly.

This technique also shows that the residents and visitors of these hotels really have a different lifestyle than was expected. For example, the calculations assume a stop in water use between 23:00 and 04:00 at night. Thanks to the energy monitoring, it now becomes clear that there is hardly a moment when there is not being showered.

Meanwhile, the hotel is fully booked almost every day and it is also somewhat quieter in the shower between 03:00 and 04:00 at night. If you want to take a look at the hotel, you are most welcome. With the trendy interior and the interior jokes, it is definitely worth a visit.