Organisation - May 26, 2011

KSV wants to build student housing

Student society KSV St. Francis wants to include student accommodation in a new building on the Stadsbrink in Wageningen.

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Its present premises are in need of renovation. 'If we knock down the old building and put up a bigger one in its place, there will be room for some student housing', says KSV chair Richard Klink. 'At the back, where you now look out over the Olympiaplein from the roof terrace, you could add another storey. Then the society would occupy the front and student flats the back. That is the idea, roughly.

Financially tricky
A drastic shortage of space has grown up at KSV over recent years, due to the massive increase in membership. The garage has already been sacrificed to create a new club room, whereas the ballroom of a kitchen is no longer needed. Hence the plans for renovation. There is also the fact that the KSV building is of no historical value; in fact the dubious 1960s architecture seems ripe for demolition and replacement with something better.
But why student accommodation? Scared that KSV members will soon be sleeping rough? 'Our maintenance costs and the gas bill go up every year', explains Klink. 'To keep the society financially healthy in the long term as well, we started thinking about the future of our building. And without student housing it will quite simply be difficult to build a new clubhouse here.'
To avoid any confusion, it is worth mentioning that the hundred-year-old society does not want to leave the Stadsbrink, where it has been for 44 years. It is well placed, next door to the Albert Heijn and the bus station, and near the town centre - which is where the town council wants to see student accommodation.