Sustainable base of operations for Utrecht public transport

On Saturday, July 10, Utrecht-based U-OV's new Westraven bus depot was inaugurated. The province has set the bar for itself and for Construction company G. van der Ven BV. pretty high with the request to create the greenest bus shelter in the Netherlands and perhaps the whole of Europe. But of course all this did not happen by itself. A review with a proud member of the Utrecht Provincial Executive Arne Schaddelee.

The province of Utrecht has stated its ambition to achieve 100% clean bus transportation by 2028. "That means fully electric or on hydrogen," Schaddelee explains. "This will soon make us the first province in the Netherlands." 

That sky-high ambition, according to the deputy, has to do with the province's highly urbanized area. "We are striving for healthy urbanization and a sustainable mobility transition with a 100% clean vehicle fleet. Therefore, building a new bus depot was crucial to achieving those ambitions. Moreover, the aging depot on Europalaan is making way for housing development. A win-win."

Creativity at contractor

The province of Utrecht built the OV site in-house. "It was a strategic choice," says Schaddelee. "This way, we provide a level playing field for the carriers at the time the tender for a new concession period starts and also ensure the long-term continuity of public transport." 

Consequently, the new bus depot is a state-of-the-art building. "We set the bar very high with the call for tender to create a circular building. But yes, how are you going to 'pour' that into a specification? That's almost impossible to do. We gave contractor Van der Ven a lot of room to be creative with that. As a result, between the driving of the first pile and the opening, we went through quite a development together - as province and contractor. In the course of the project there was a lot of switching and optimization. That gave the contractor a lot of energy. Nice to see."

Recycled materials 

In the construction of the new building, which unites a garage, workshop and office under one roof, as many materials as possible were used that have been reused or can easily be reused in the future. "For example, the aluminum window frames consist of recycled materials and recycled wood was used for the roof," Schaddelee explains enthusiastically. "The latter is also made visible in several places and provides a retro-like look. In addition, a green sedum roof has been provided and numerous insect hotels and nesting boxes have been placed on the property. Solar panels on the roof are responsible for powering both the property and charging the electric buses." 

With the new depot, the province is making a huge public transport scale leap in the region. "At the Westraven site there is room to park a total of 160 buses. In addition, we can make use of the extra capacity at the new streetcar depot across the street, where there is room for another 50 electric buses. Truly a milestone on the road to a 100% clean bus transportation system."