“When you enter Alfa College Hoogeveen, circularity and sustainability should come straight to your face.”

The Alfa College asked Hollandse Nieuwe as a circular architect and Zwartwoud as a circular interior builder. The school's students were closely involved in the process and invited to contribute ideas about circularity, sustainability and the reuse of materials.

The new school building was furnished with all kinds of materials from the old building, and where this was not possible, circular materials were obtained elsewhere.

A few examples:

• We use gable walls for the bar in the grand café;
• The materials of the old bar were reused to make it a completely new bar;
• The metal balustrade was used for the reception desk;
• Old stone stairs were used for the reception desk top and partitions;
• And the wooden tops in the kitchen are made of composite wood, which shows what the wood was used for before.

Zwartwoud was responsible for a large number of pieces of furniture: the reception desk, the bar, the kitchen, partitions, high tables, benches and the hair salon.

Together with Hollandse Nieuwe and Zwartwoud, the school has made a harvest list. Bork Group then joined as a specialist in circular demolition: they ensured that the materials were neatly dismantled for reuse.

Where new materials were needed, we opted for sustainable materials.