2023: the year of shifting and digging

Endless amounts of sheet piling, millions of kilograms of concrete and many cubic metres of excavation work. These were the running themes that characterised the work we did in 2023. Often very little was noticeable, but at times we had to make adjustments to the metro and railway services. At other times, there was noise disruption.

It started as early as January, when we spent two weekends installing sheet piling into the ground for the regeneration of Amsterdam Zuid station. On 24 January, there was a spectacle to behold: as we pushed a new section of the roof of the additional passenger tunnel – the Brittenpassage – towards the A10, under the watchful eyes of dozens of interested parties.

This helped create the space for the construction – reinforcing concrete, making formwork, pouring concrete – of the fifth roof section of the Brittenpassage. In order to get these huge concrete sheets into their position, we closed the A4 and the A10 Zuid from the Badhoevedorp interchange to the S109 RAI access road in early August. This made it possible to dig up around a hundred metres of the embankment next to the station under the A10 Zuid. All this culminated in the shifting operation in August, when we pushed the fourth and fifth sections into their final positions underneath the railway tracks and the A10 Zuid.

In the meantime, we took advantage of the occasion to use the Zuidas-Zuidasdok Zomerkeet (Summer Shack), in Mahlerplein, to brief anyone interested on the Zuidasdok infrastructure project and the development of the Zuidas district.

As soon as the shifting of the concrete had been completed, the major excavation works started: with most of the roof of the Brittenpassage now in position underneath the railway and metro tracks and partially under the A10, we were finally able to reveal where our construction of the roof sections – started back in 2019 – will ultimately lead. In October, we were able to show interested parties an enormous space underneath all the infrastructure. November marked yet another milestone: we built the seventh and final roof section for the Brittenpassage, which we will be moving into position in the New Year.

Even in and around the Minervapassage – the existing station passageway – the construction workers from the Nieuw-Zuid (BCNZ) Construction Consortium were anything but idle. In the future, this passageway will be much taller and wider than it now is, which is why we demolished part of the old roof. In June, we pushed part of the new roof diagonally across the existing passageway to its new position, around 114 m to the east. It was a spectacular, ten-hour operation that attracted plenty of onlookers.

All of this construction work in and around Amsterdam Zuid station requires space, so road closures (albeit temporary) again proved inevitable this year. We always made efforts to reduce disruption as was the case when the concrete was poured for the fifth roof section for the Brittenpassage. Rather than completely closing Parnassusweg, we made cyclists and pedestrians pause for a moment to allow concrete trucks to access our site. A musical interlude was provided for the occasion.

Other road closures required for the station regeneration were slightly more intrusive: for the first time ever, we closed the A10 in the direction of Schiphol for two weekends in September from the Amstel interchange to the S108 VUmc access road. Parnassusweg was also closed for months to enable the widening of the viaduct needed for the station expansion.

The development of Zuidas also continued at pace in 2023. A large amount of office accommodation was added. The year 2023 saw the completion of Tripolis-Park, Edge Stadium, Tower Ten and the Strawinskyhuis. The most easterly neighbourhood in Zuidas, Kop Zuidas, also welcomed two great new residential buildings multifunctional Crossover and The Newton, completed last month. Prinses Irenestraat saw the start of renovation work on the building previously used by the Amsterdam International Community School and, in Beatrixpark, we are converting the Kapel & Convict building (a listed monument) into accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. On the edge of the park, we began preparatory work for the construction of two residential towers.

In Kenniskwartier (the Knowledge District) the towers of Zuidas’ newest eye-catcher The Pulse of Amsterdam rapidly emerged from the ground alongside the A10. In this very same neighbourhood, the tender procedure was launched for a housing construction project and we announced the development of 119 student flats. Sadly, there was also less good news on the housing construction front: the relocation of the Sporthallen Zuid sports complex will not go ahead, putting an end to the planned construction of 550 homes in this area (the Verdi neighbourhood).

We also did a lot of work on the public spaces in Zuidas. This started in Kop Zuidas with the landscaping of the long-awaited Hogelandplein. In the future Ravel residential neighbourhood, we began the initial works for the new entrance, and the Kindercampus Zuidas was given a brand-new natural playground. We gave Wielingenstraat a makeover and relandscaped the public space around Tower Ten, the newest WTC tower. This brought about the welcome return of the popular cycle path in Beethovenstraat after five years of absence.

There were also preliminary works on the A10 Zuid, which included relocation of the controls for the Schinkelbrug bridge. The summer saw the launch of the tender procedure for the construction of a motorway tunnel at the heart of Zuidas. Preparatory works for the tunnel took place in recent months in Eduard van Beinumstraat and in Matthijs Vermeulenpad. The decision was also made to include the replacement of the southern Rozenoordbrug bridge on the A10 Zuid as part of the reconstruction of the Amstel interchange. The Amstel interchange reconstruction is one of the Zuidasdok projects.  

Last but not least: we gave our Information Centre a brand-new look. You can now take a virtual stroll through the new Amsterdam Zuid station. The model was also given a major upgrade. Why not come and take a look?