Palace of Justice becomes ultra-luxury hotel

The building itself dates back as far as 1663. It was the Alms House, a home that housed as many as 2554 poor orphans. It also served as a hospital for cholera sufferers before the judiciary moved in.

Converting such a seventeenth-century complex is a huge job. That requires cranes, excavators and foundation machines. Always tricky in Amsterdam’s old town. The 1658 bridges and quay walls are totally incapable of handling low loaders, mobile cranes and concrete mixers.

This is even more true of the narrow streets in between, which were designed at the time for horse-drawn carriages and handcarts. Before these may be closed for construction work, many procedures precede. Yet very often piling, drilling and demolition must be done in mostly inaccessible places.

So too at the former Palace of Justice. There had to be a deep construction pit in the courtyard, with steel sheet pile walls all around. Van Schie’s needed machines were lifted one by one from the Lange Leidse Dwarsstraat over the four-story building using its own mobile crane, with some machines having to be dismantled before they could be siphoned off.

Challenging job

It was also a new kind of challenge for the Slokker Construction Group – the general contractor. Because how do you excavate a 6-meter-deep building pit in an inaccessible courtyard? And how do you put a steel sheet pile around that that needs to be pushed 12.5 meters into the ground? A tough job that requires heavy machinery.

Van Schie thought through the tactics to be followed and supplied the right equipment to make three separate sheet pile pits, reinforced with outrigger frames to prevent settlement under pressure. The three underground wells will soon house the kitchen, heating systems and a bicycle basement. The largest of the three souterrains will house a swimming pool and areas for fitness, spa and wellness.

Rosewood Hotel

This extremely luxurious hotel will be called the Rosewood Hotel and will specifically target travelers from the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). It will soon have 118 rooms, 26 suites and a veritable ballroom. The courtyard will be transformed into a romantic garden designed by Piet Oudolf, an internationally renowned Dutch garden architect.