Sports centre Activum in the Bentinckspark in Hoogeveen will open soon. Newspaper Dagblad van het Noorden already took a look at the complex that cost just below 10 million euro. You can’t miss the youngest acquisition in the renovated sports heart of Hoogeveen, but you can miss its name. You’ll have to search for the designation ‘Activum’ on the big building, but on closer inspection you’ll see that the winning entry of a resident has been milled into the side.

Costs

The modern complex measuring about 6,900 square meters was built on hundreds of piles. “Yes, it was quite something”, municipal project leader Henk Koster says. “Just before it all started here in June 2015, there were problems with the piles in centre project De Kaap.” In the end, all piles were replaced there, because many piles were affected by the groundwater. “In consultation with the contractor, we chose for another type of concrete and for better pre-stressing of concrete.”

To keep the costs at 9.8 million euro (exclusive paving), some cut-backs were made in the execution. “This doesn’t apply to the sports centre’s floors, stands and the LED lighting”, alderman Gert Vos clarifies. The heart of the building is the impressive top-class sports hall with extension stands, named Het Station. “I already call it the Euroborg (stadium FC Groningen, editor’s note). They also have a passage behind the stalls there.”

Read the full article in Dagblad van het Noorden