Hospice De Mare in Leiderdorp: The result of a collective

It is certainly not easy to realize a hospice; especially when during the run-up the corona crisis erupts and prices skyrocket. De Mare, which opened its doors at the end of April on the Hoogmadeseweg in Leiderdorp, proves that it can be done. With the efforts of many committed volunteers, the benevolent cooperation of all building partners and a laundry list of sponsors, here now stands a modern facility with six spacious rooms for guests, who can receive terminal care in a home-like atmosphere in beautiful surroundings.

Hospice De Mare's catchment area is eastern Leiden and Leiderdorp, which has a population of about 100,000. "An ideal location," Jules de Vries, secretary of Stichting Hospice De Mare explains enthusiastically. "It is next to the Alrijne Hospital, a nursing home and a mortuary, and the bus stops opposite." Despite the huge price increases and other setbacks that occurred throughout the process, with a lot of persuasion, an additional loan from a hospice friend, and many sponsor contributions, we managed to build a balanced budget and ditto operation. "In the end we were able to realize a beautiful hospice with a great construction team, which included STOL architects, contractor Horsman & Co, Homma Elektrotechniek and Warmerdam Installatietechniek. It is a social project and for that you need parties and especially people who want to be partners in such a project. That also applies to Koninklijke Ginkel Groep, which laid out the beautiful garden, and the countless volunteers who were and are involved in this project. This is truly the result of a collective."

De Mare has become a compact hospice, with a large living room with kitchen on the first floor, six guest rooms and several general areas. The floor houses a multipurpose room cum family room, a storage room for beds, among other things, a guest room and a room for technology. In addition to the main stairwell, a platform elevator was built in, used primarily for transporting beds. "Bed transport was an important aspect of the construction," says De Vries: "The whole house has been made accessible for beds. That means not only barrier-free floors, but also extra-wide doorways. To allow our guests to also take full advantage of the terraces near the homes, the terrace entrances to the living rooms are 1.20 meters wide. A narrow side door was added in front of each door for this purpose." The spacious bathrooms have an access in the longitudinal axis of the rooms so that a bed stretcher can be easily wheeled in and out. 

The hospice in Leiderdorp was architecturally realized by Horsman & Co. Project leader Nils de Bruijn: "After an initial unsuccessful tender, Jules went to our director René Vos with a budget he couldn't come up with and with the question of whether he could get this done and build something beautiful. We took up that challenge with the entire team with four hands. This kind of social project also suits us very well, I would like to do one every year. Just the appreciation of all the volunteers is enormous and heartwarming. Partners and suppliers with whom we realized De Mare were sought out locally and regionally, always keeping in mind that the social aspect and the special client require a different approach and the acceptance of compromises."

The building is designed with a shell of precast ribcassette floors for the first floor and wide slab floors for the first floor, combined with sand-lime brick walls. "Very traditionally designed, affordable for the client and feasible for us," says work planner Nick Duivenvoorden. "The apartments protrude from the main volume on the south side. We anchored their roof floors to the main volume with iso baskets, which are normally used to suspend balconies. The facades are constructed of light masonry, with warm wooden window frames at the guest rooms and otherwise maintenance-free plastic window frames with a wood look."

Much attention was paid to making De Mare energy self-sufficient. De Bruijn: "The building was equipped by Warmerdam with its own WKO installation, underfloor heating and an energy-efficient air treatment unit with a high air circulation rate. Homma installed 48 solar panels on the roof and installed a nurse call system, doorbell system, fire alarms, Wifi and all other E-techniques. All doors are equipped with Salto access technology. This is a costly addition, but with the large number of volunteers actually indispensable because it allows you to assign and disconnect keys quickly and easily."

On April 26, Leiderdorp Mayor Tjarda Struik performed the official opening ceremony. This ended - perhaps temporarily - the search for resources and sponsors that made the project possible. "How many times has it been said, 'We have to see who wants to sponsor that,'" De Vries concludes. "And you have to be creative. Those who are terminally ill at home get a bed reimbursed by insurance. We as an institution don't. But if you put six beds here and tell the bed supplier which guests use them, they will declare it to the insurance company. That saves us an investment of 30,000 euros and the supplier does not have to drag beds around. That's how Jan Splinter gets through the winter." 

Client:
Hospice de Mare Foundation

Architect:
STOL architects

Contractor:
Horsman & Co. 

E-installation:
Homma Electrical Engineering

W installation:
Warmerdam Installation Technology

Access Technology:
Salto

Exterior grounds:
Royal Ginkel Group