Tower block built for foreign students
The skyline of the Arnhem suburb Presikhaaf has undergone a dramatic change. The Arnhem suburb has been boasting a brand-new nine-storey tower block since the beginning of last summer. Since mid-August the apartments of the block have been exclusively used to accommodate foreign students who enrolled in the international programme at the Faculty of Economics of Arnhem Business School.
The tower mainly has apartments designed for one person, although there are several which can accommodate two persons. The total block offers room to 96 students. ‘The new block is a real gain to the Faculty of Economics and Management (FEM)’, said deputy institution manager Gert de Groot. ‘Only a stone's throw away from Presikhaaf railway station and within walking distance from the Arnhem campus. The FEM was in urgent need of new apartments, as its contract with the former asylum seeker centre in Merwedestraat (about six hundred metres away from the campus) was expiring. ‘We were allowed to use it for accommodating our foreign students for a period of five years. This time has gone by now.’ Although Vivare Housing Corporation, who commissioned the construction of the tower block, already had plans for a new block of apartments, they had not yet considered what type of users should move into the apartments. De Groot: ‘Then they came to us, which was a true godsend.’
