Dutch agriculture and horticulture sector pension fund BPL Pensioen has acquired 213 homes partly built using timber-based construction in The Hague, Netherlands.
The acquisition, conducted via Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance, represents BPL Pensioen's first investment in timber construction.
The One Milky Way project on the Binckhorst consists of a residential tower with 183 homes and low-rise buildings with 30 homes.
The low-rise will be built using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), a natural building material that has a much lower CO2 impact than traditional materials such as steel and concrete, saving around 460 tonnes of CO2.
Mark Rosenberg, BPL Pensioen board member, said: ‘Our ESG policy already focuses on making existing residential units more sustainable and affordable rental units in particular. With this new acquisition in The Hague, we are also adding bio-based materials in new construction, which leads to a further reduction of CO2 emissions. This underlines our ambition to be a green fund for the green sector.’
Boris van der Gijp, director of real estate at Syntrus Achmea, commented: ‘We are proud that BPL Pensioen is now our second client to invest in timber construction. We’ve been promoting the use of more bio-based materials in construction for some time now, as it greatly reduces CO2 emissions as well as construction time. It's great that we can turn our clients' intentions into actual projects built with wood.’
In addition to the 213 rental homes, the project includes 40 owner-occupied homes, a 283-space parking garage and 4,350 m2 of commercial space, while a large, communal roof garden, available to residents, will enhance biodiversity in the area.
VORM is responsible for the development of One Milky Way, and the homes will be built by Waal, with project completion scheduled for H1 2026.
