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The Maastoren (Dutch for ''Meuse Tower'') is with its height of the second tallest building in the Netherlands. The office building is situated on the bank of the
Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterd ...
, after which the building is named, in the neighborhood Kop van Zuid in the
South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...
city of
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
. The Maastoren was built between 2006 and 2009, and had OVG as its developer. The Maastoren has a total of 44 above ground floors and two underground floors. The Maastoren serves as the headquarters of the Dutch branch of
Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...
, and is used by the company AKD. In 2019, the State of the Netherlands leased an area of . Around 1,600 employees of both companies work in the office building. The Maastoren has a total floor area of , of which around is rentable office space. Also, the Maastoren features a parking garage with ten floors, which is operated by
APCOA APCOA Parking AG is Europe's longest-established full service parking management company.
.


History


Prior to the construction

When the Dutch branch of Deloitte wanted a new headquarters, it chose for the current location of the Maastoren. Later, AKD stepped into the project as well. Both companies chose OVG as the developer of the new office building. Dam & Partners Architecten designed the Maastoren with Odile Decq Benoit Cornette. Also, engineering firm Zonneveld and the company Techniplan Adviseurs were involved in the developing process.
Besix BESIX Group is a construction group based in Brussels, one of the world's leading international contractors according to the ENR ranking. Active since 1909, BESIX operates in Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, North America and Asia. Its a ...
was the main contractor, and received €67 million for building the Maastoren. The municipality of Rotterdam agreed with the construction of the Maastoren, but in April 2006 the council called for a debate on the subject. At the end of May, alderman
Hamit Karakus Hamit Karakus (born 22 February 1965) is a Turkish-Dutch politician, who has a seat in the Senate and previously served as an alderman in Rotterdam. He is a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). Born in Turkey, Karakus grew up in Steenwijk and ...
said to the council that the Maastoren would be built and that the municipality would listen to the objections. The council agreed with the construction in the following month. As a reaction, ''Vereniging Woon- en Leefklimaat Kop van Zuid/ Noordereiland'' (Dutch for ''Association Living Environment Kop van Zuid/Noordereiland'') filed a lawsuit against the municipality of Rotterdam. The association aimed at preventing the Maastoren from being constructed, and was previously known as ''Comité Maastoren Nee!'' (Dutch for ''Committee Maastoren No!''). 200 objections against a license had been filed, mostly because of the height of the Maastoren and the above ground parking garage. Some nearby residents also argued the office building would cause environmental and traffic problems, and complained about the lack of public eating facilities in the building.


Construction

The process of making the site ready for construction started at the end of July 2006, but the preparations were shut down two weeks later on 3 September. On 21 September, the preparations were continued. The digging of the
foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
started the following month. Part of the construction site was kept dry using sheet piles, because that part was situated in the river. In November 2006, all the remaining objections against the Maastoren were rejected by the general committee on objections of Rotterdam. The lawsuit against the construction, however, was still ongoing. On 25 April 2007, the
groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...
took place.
Ivo Opstelten Ivo Willem Opstelten (born 31 January 1944) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Opstelten applied at Leiden University in May 1963 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bac ...
, who was mayor of Rotterdam at that time, hammered the first pile into the ground. Back then, the opening of the Maastoren was planned in 2009. Meanwhile, the judge had given the verdict in the lawsuit of the association against Rotterdam, that was filed to stop the construction. The judge said the license was justified, and thus the municipality had won the lawsuit. On 27 May 2009, the Maastoren was topped out. At that time, all floors up to the twentieth floor were completely finished. To celebrate this occasion, alderman Hamit Karakus and CEO of OVG Coen van Oostram abseiled down the building to the 31st floor two days later. The construction was completed in November 2009. The developer, OVG, sold the Maastoren to the German company SEB Asset Management for €159.5 million the same year.


Opening and sale

The Maastoren was put into use on 15 March 2010, and was officially opened two months later on 28 May. OVG, the developer, received a plaque from the
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States ...
. The plaque states the Maastoren has a height of , and is the tallest building in the Netherlands. The plaque is displayed in the lobby of the Maastoren since the opening. During the opening, Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam, received a copy of the book ''Maastoren'' about the building, which was published by the Rotterdam Skyscraper Foundation. In December 2014, the American real estate company NorthStar bought a portfolio, that consisted of eleven office buildings including the Maastoren, from SEB Asset Management. NorthStar paid €1.1 billion for the entire portfolio. In 2018, the Maastoren was acquired by an investment consortium led by FOM Real Estate from Heidelberg, Germany.


Architecture

The Maastoren is designed by Dam & Partners Architecten. Also, the architecture firm Odile Decq Benoit Cornette was involved in the designing progress, and architecture firm OTH designed the interior of the office building. The skyscraper consists of two main elements: one has a height of and one is slightly turned compared to the first one and is around tall. Also, the Maastoren has a glass extension. The strength of the building is provided by a core with two inner walls, by other inner walls perpendicular to the core, and by the exterior that consists of
prefab Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is u ...
elements. These parts are made out of concrete. The core is occupied by the restrooms and some of the elevators among other things. The area of the core varies depending on the height and its dimensions on average are by . The core was constructed using a
climbing formwork Climbing formwork, also known as jumpform, is a special type formwork for vertical concrete structures that rises with the building process. While relatively complicated and costly, it can be an effective solution for buildings that are either ver ...
. The base of the Maastoren is situated on a layer of sand, that is situated on layers of clay. Two sides of the base of the building are located in the Nieuwe Maas. The foundation consists of almost 500 piles, on which an almost thick foundation plate rests. The underground parking garage starts on top of that foundation plate. The exterior of the Maastoren is wrapped in panels, that give the building its colors. The windows are located in between those panels. The color of the Maastoren changes gradually as the building rises: the building is colored dark grey at the bottom and silver white at the top. To create these color changes, the panels at the bottom are made of
dimension stone Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (e.g., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements. A ...
s and the panels higher in the building are made of 22 shades of aluminium. The aluminium panels cover slightly more than the upper half of the Maastoren, and they become lighter as the building rises. The different colors of the facade were chosen to make the building resemble the horizon. The dark grey dimension stones at the bottom are meant to resemble the
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
wharf. However, the facade near the elevators is in contrary to the rest of the facade entirely made out of glass. The parking garage has grids instead of windows, to reduce nuisance caused by the wind. The Maastoren is equipped with jetties to prevent collisions with large ships. Also, the building has a dock for
water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or o ...
s. The interior of the Maastoren is exclusively heated and cooled by the water of the
Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterd ...
. Water is being brought to storage tanks with diameters of by
heat exchanger A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contac ...
s. The heat and cold is being stored using
seasonal thermal energy storage Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES), also known as inter-seasonal thermal energy storage, is the storage of heat or cold for periods of up to several months. The thermal energy can be collected whenever it is available and be used whenever nee ...
. There's one storage tank available for the heat, that is filled during summer, and one for the cold, that is filled during winter. The Maastoren is therefore not connected to
district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...
. The water from the river is used to supply the
fire sprinkler system A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection method, consisting of a water supply system, providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, onto which fire sprinklers are connected. Although historically on ...
as well.


Interior

The Maastoren has a parking garage with ten floors, of which two are located underground. Situated above the underground parking garage, the ground floor houses the main entrance, above which a glass
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...
is located to decrease the effect of the wind. Also, the ground floor includes a reception, waiting space, meeting space, space for informal meetings, and a bar that bears the name ''Grand Café''. The second floor houses conference rooms and a cafetaria. The parking garage continues on the third floor, and goes on to the 11th floor. This part of the parking garage can be accessed by a ramp, that goes through the lobby. The Maastoren has 634 parking spaces in total. 446 of them are part of a public parking garage, that is operated by
Q-Park Q-Park is an operator of parking garages in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Q-Park is the number two on the European parking market. In total Q-Park controls 800,000 parking spaces on m ...
. Most of the parking garage is above ground because of the small size of the lot and because of the high costs of a deep underground parking garage. There's a gym on the twelfth floor, just above the parking garage. The office floors of Deloitte and AKD start above the parking garage, and continue to the top of the Maastoren. The top floor is occupied by a conference room with glass walls. These glass walls extend beyond the roof to create the illusion that the Maastoren fades into the air. The building has twelve elevators (including service elevators), of which two glass elevators are situated on the exterior to reach the above ground parking garage. The three fastest elevators, that serve the top floors, can reach a maximum speed of around .


Height

The architectural height of the Maastoren is , but there's a mast above that height that isn't included in the architectural height. The total height with the mast included is . The highest occupied floor is located twenty metres under the top at above the ground.


Maastoren Challenge

The Maastoren Challenge is a sporting event inside the Maastoren, that has been held in 2013 and in 2015, to raise money for charity. The competitors start at the bottom of the office building, and have to reach the top of the Maastoren by using the stairs only. The 2013 edition was held on 23 November and the 2015 edition on 18 April. During the second edition the 335 participants raised €21,635. That money was donated to the foundation Make-A-Wish Nederland.


Awards

The Maastoren has received two awards: De Vernufteling, a yearly engineering award, in 2007 and the FGH Vastgoedprijs, a biennial award, in 2010. De Vernufteling was awarded to Techniplan Adviseurs because of the heating and cooling system of the building, that uses
seasonal thermal energy storage Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES), also known as inter-seasonal thermal energy storage, is the storage of heat or cold for periods of up to several months. The thermal energy can be collected whenever it is available and be used whenever nee ...
. The FGH Vastgoedprijs was awarded to the developer OVG by Aleid Wolfsen, back then mayor of
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
, on 8 November 2010. The award comprised a bronze statuette and a plaque. The judge said the Maastoren was a real eye-catcher and a monumental building. Furthermore, the judge called the building way ahead of its time.


References

{{Coord, 51, 54, 31.43, N, 4, 29, 36.3, E, region:US-NV_type:city, display=title Skyscrapers in Rotterdam Deloitte Office buildings completed in 2009 Skyscraper office buildings in the Netherlands