Dear Parents,
The British School of Amsterdam recently acquired the Havenstraat 6 site in Amsterdam, a 19th century former prison and a listed building, to redevelop it into a facility for no less than 1200 pupils, according to the BSA website.
Together with several thousand new residents of a number of appartment blocs, the BSA moving from its current locations in leafy Amsterdam Zuid into what by its status has to remain a gloomy hulk, situated in an area already bloated with traffic and air pollution, would cause unacceptable traffic dangers and health problems for everybody.
The architects and the BSA management seem not to have been fully aware of, or to disregard these many problems altogether. Concerned residents and lung specialist are sounding the alarm about the serious healthrisks of more and more air pollution from traffic in a city that is already bursting at the seams. [Source: https://zembla.bnnvara.nl/nieuws/longartsen-slaan-alarm-risicos-luchtvervuiling-worden-ernstig-onderschat]
The BSA, for example, underestimated the situation of the roundabout Amstelveenseweg in front of the school, where traffic from five directions come together. With an added future population equal to that of an entire village, this would become an even greater healthrisk, besides being a nuissance.
Do you know that the nearby crossing Amstelveenseweg - Zeilstraat- Koninginneweg, was at one time dubbed one of the five dirtiest of Amsterdam? Sufferers from allergies, bronchitis or asthma, etc. never thrive in such conditions.
Do you know that on any given day every few minutes an aeroplane passes straight over the school on its descent to Schiphol? Residents have recently learned that the frequency of these flights will increase dramatically in 2018. You can imagine the disturbance and the toxins.
Sound pollution is also recognized as a serious health hazard. The daily loud noise of sports, play and music from the school would be re-enforced by the surfaces of enclosing buildings. It would be a terrible situation for everyone working shifts, most of all for the extremely vulnerable elderly residents of the ajacent flat.
To conclude: we hope that you as responsible parents, by now realize that there will be far too many serious problems for this ill-conceived plan to go ahead. Alternatively, it would basically be sufficient for the BSA to just look for a smaller new building for its Senior School in a less unhealthy part of Amsterdam.
As the school Principal Mr. Morgan writes on the website of the BSA: “The new school will have capacity for 1.200 children. Having said that, we’ll make absolutely sure we keep our small-school, family feel.” Local residents by now realize that this has been a bit of a fib all along.
Kind regards,
Buurtcomité Havenstraat
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