Brede school De Waterlelie

Abstract

Ever since quality of life has been introduced in the BBSH, housing corporations invest more and more in housing conditions and the neighbourhood. Housing corporations try to influence the housing conditions and neighbourhood by developing social real estate, as it is they who benefit from a well functioning neighbourhood. This research centralises the community school (brede school) De Waterlelie, a facility in the city of eidschendam-Voorburg, and also an example of social real estate. De aterlelie offers facilities for children as well as adults; for instance a primary school, day-care centre, sports school and adult education. The main question in this research is: Does the community school De Waterlelie generate social and economical value for the neighbourhood the Prinsenhof? The goal of this research is proving that De Waterlelie adds extra value to the Prinsenhof. A distinction has been made between two research directions: social and economical value. The social value has been researched by means of an inquiry amongst local residents, address files from the primary school and day care centre and interviews with the two housing corporations, the municipality and the primary school’s principal. The economical value has been researched by comparing WOZ-values in the neighbourhood the Prinsenhof with reference values. The investments in the Prinsenhof are also important to this research. In the first place, a community school concentrates on increasing children's development chances. Apart from that, community schools (and also De Waterlelie) concentrate more and more on the neighbourhood. The community school can for instance contribute to the social cohesion in the neighbourhood by offering activities to local residents. The social value is researched by looking at the possible effects of De Waterlelie on the local society. An important indicator in this research is the local residents' use of De Waterlelie. Apart from that, the local residents' satisfaction concerning De Waterlelie is important. The goals of De Waterlelie have also been put on trial. The basic assumption of the economical value is that an investment in a certain area can possibly cause an increase in value of the (economical) value of surrounding real estate. Social value In order to reach the research's results, analyses concerning the local residents' use of De Waterlelie have been carried out. Important in this is whether De Waterlelie is a facility for the neighbourhood or for a larger area, whether children as well as adults make use of the facility and which services are used within the facility. Research shows that child care Duimelijntje users come mainly from outside the Prinsenhof. This is opposed to users of primary school De Springplank and playgroup Vlietkinderen; they come mainly from within the Prinsenhof. The primary school and playgroup are visited by the same type of user which makes it possible for these two facilities to work closely together and stimulate a good exchange between them. This is in contrast to child care Duimelijntje. An important concept, and also goal, of De Waterlelie is that the facility is to be used by children as well as adults. The use of the facility by adults seems to coincide with the presence of children in the family and/or their use of the facility. It appears that local residents without children hardly ever use the facility. The urban development plan of the building makes it impossible to just walk past the building. That is why people who have no reason to visit the building, will hardly ever come into contact with the facility. Apart from cooperation between various facilities within De Waterlelie, another important goal is to improve the neighbourhood's social cohesion. Research shows that local residents who visit the facility fairly often (weekly) get to know new people due to this. However, since this group is relatively small, it is likely that the neighbourhood's social cohesion has not or hardly not been improved. A final important theme is local residents' satisfaction concerning De Waterlelie. It is striking to see that users as well as non-users are (very much) satisfied with the facility De Waterlelie. Non-users are satisfied with the facility as they think that De Waterlelie has a positive influence on the neighbourhood. Economical value In recent years much has been invested in the Prinsenhof by the municipality (layout new park, building De Waterlelie) and housing corporations (renovation houses). On average these investments per house total € 34,000. Looking at the value development of the Prinsenhof in the period from 2001 to 2005, it is evident that its course is slow compared to the reference values. Circa 2006 the Prinsenhof recovers and connects to the reference values. As there are only relatively small differences between the WOZ-values and reference values, it is likely that the investments of € 34,000 per house have not or not yet repaid themselves.