01 · Challenge
Canal house with centuries-old restrictions
The owner of a national listed building on the Oudegracht in Utrecht wanted to modernise the layout: merging two bedrooms into a spacious master bedroom, relocating the kitchen to the rear and creating a new bathroom on the first floor. Because the building dates from 1712 and retains its original roof structure, chimneys and stucco ceilings, every intervention had to be reviewed by the municipality of Utrecht and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. Designing it incorrectly here means: application refused and months of delay.
02 · Our approach
Heritage expertise as the foundation for the design
We began with an extensive structural survey of all historic elements: original beam layers, chimneys, stucco ceilings and the brick bond courses in the facade. Based on this, we designed a new layout that leaves all listed values intact and makes the new arrangement fully reversible. In consultation with the Heritage department of the municipality of Utrecht and the RCE, we aligned the design before the formal application was submitted. This way we avoided surprises during the permit phase.
03 · Result
Permit granted, listed building values preserved
The building permit was granted within 14 weeks, including approval from the RCE. The building now has a contemporary layout with a spacious open kitchen at the rear, a full bathroom on the first floor and a master bedroom overlooking the canal. All historic elements, the original roof structure and the stucco ceilings remain undamaged. Thanks to the detailed working drawings, the contractor was able to work precisely without improvisation on site.