The team of Karres en Brands and Heren 5 win the selection for the last part of the renewal of the Kolenkitbuurt in Amsterdam West, organized by the municipality of Amsterdam and Rochdale. Around seven hundred homes will be renovated and an as yet unknown number of new homes will be added.  

The design team has started drawing up the urban plan, which involves renovating existing buildings and adding new homes. In addition, we are looking at how the desired densification can go hand in hand with the creation of space for more greenery, meeting places and business activity, so that the overall quality improves and a greater sense of security is created. The starting points for the design are drawn up in a participatory process with the neighbourhood. In cooperation with the Kolenkit Participation Team, the wishes and needs of residents and entrepreneurs will be mapped out via interviews, surveys and scale models. In this way, a broadly supported plan will be drawn up. 

Renovation in the Kolenkit neighbourhood has been underway since 2003 and 1,400 homes have already been renovated and 900 new homes have been built. The public space has also been renovated. In order to get a firm grip on the 'Kolenkit idiom', the team is working together with Steenhuis-Meurs, who are researching the relationship with the General Extension Plan (AUP) and its cultural-historical significance.

Karres en Brands previously made a number of transformation plans in the AUP, including the design for the neighbourhood Jerusalem in the Watergraafsmeer. Here they worked with the neighbourhood to renovate and reinterpret the original plan into a resilient residential area for the future. The plan received the Arie Keppler Prize in 2020. For blocks G and H, Karres en Brands worked closely with Heren 5.