A sketch of the location

Schoone Ley is a brand-new residential area next to The Hague’s Haga Hospital. A high-rise apartment building on the corner of Leywey and Escamplaan towers over the new estate.

The tall, 21-storey block is owned by German investors PATRIZIA. PATRIZIA has also bought the adjacent block, which consists of 34 apartments. Both blocks – 161 apartments in all – were finished and handed over in November 2020.

A logistic puzzle

The nearby hospital received a huge amount of attention during the development process, with the aim to minimize disruption for the hospital during the construction and the ensuing removal operation.

PATRIZIA called in the moving-in concierges from The James Company to prevent any disruption for the nearby hospital and to welcome the new residents.

The preparations

Six weeks before the handover, the residents were sent a link to our online removal planner in which they could reserve a timeslot; the plan was to spread this large-scale removal operation over several days and timeslots.

Nicole, our Operations Manager, put together a team of six moving-in concierges and one service manager, who were given a tour of the location and induction training on-site before the handover.

‘It was crucial to monitor the traffic and parking situation at this location. That’s why we roped off a generous zone for loading and unloading, and then plenty of space next to the removal vans for separate deliveries of things like new equipment.’

The handover

When the keys to the new homes were handed over at an event organized by the property manager, The James Company’s team were there to meet the residents and explain the moving-in protocol.

The moving-in concierges worked in shifts and coordinated all the removals to ensure the traffic in the loading zone kept moving, supervised the timeslots, kept an eye on the use of the lifts, and made sure the house rules were observed. And of course, they helped out whenever the residents had a heavy sofa to lift.

A familiar, friendly face

+Jack was called in before the handover too. Say hi to Service Manager Aad! Since the beginning, he’s been the point of contact on-site for all the stakeholders: from the residents to the property manager and from the neighbours in the surrounding area to the hospital.

While the moving-in concierges concentrated on coordinating all the removals, Aad was fielding questions and requests for repairs from the residents and other stakeholders. He also kept an eye on the rest of the complex. Daily rounds through the buildings, the multi-storey car park and roof gardens meant that he could detect building outages and faults in time and report them.