Zijtaart village centre

Zijtaart is a village with more than 1,500 residents centred on a church in the municipality of Veghel. As a follow-up to the drawing up of the Structural Vision Plus for the entire municipalities of Uden and Veghel, Strootman worked together with Laagland’advies, residents and local enterprises to produce separate structural visions for each of the six parishes (Boerdonk, Eerde, Erp, Keldonk, Mariaheide and Zijtaart) between 2002 and 2007.

Important changes were imminent in the centre of Zijtaart that offered opportunities for an integral approach. The focus was the convent because of the strong bond that it has always had with the village as a school, care institution, nursing home and old people’s home. That convent would become vacant in 2010. A number of other issues affecting the village centre also played a role: the school no longer met today’s criteria, the village hall was too small and out of date, and a location was sought for a variety of functions.

The integral approach created great opportunities for a new use of the convent that could reaffirm the strong bond with the village community. All the functions were accommodated in the convent, and room was hereby made available for housing and an attractive public space. The village hall, school, nursery/child care facility, gym, combined (care) amenities and apartments were implemented as soon as the last nun had left. The convent has hereby regained its old, central function but is used in a new way. Besides the freeing of space for new apartments, a relatively isolated residential neighbourhood has now been linked directly with the village centre.

Residents were intensively involved in the planning right from the start. Thanks to their willingness to make concessions, their determination and their active participation they have given the convent new meaning. The constructive and open planning process has turned Zijtaart into an attractive village centre with space for people to meet and for history. The project has won the Brabant Style Award 2014 for ‘creating links at all kinds of levels – based on the cultural historical legacy – in the centre of Zijtaart’.