Living in a vacant sports centre? It can be done!

"It's like walking into some science fiction movie, one of those movies where all these zombies turn up in abandoned buildings," laughs councillor Anne Cristien Spekle as she stands in the completely empty swimming pool. She herself swam there as a teenager - "I still remember the disco swimming quite vividly" - but the complex has not served that purpose for a long time. "The pools are empty, the diving board is gone, the sports hall is pitch-dark. It almost gives you vertigo," says the councillor as she looks down into the main pool.

Although the walls are still holding up proudly nearly five years after its closure in 2019, the building is starting to show significant flaws in the meantime. Water is pouring down through the roof in the shower stalls. If it were up to the councillor, the building would have long since been demolished. After all, the new Beekdal Park is set to be built on this site: four separate flat blocks in a green park, trageted at both young and old residents. Very much needed for the town of Oisterwijk, which continues to need more and more housing.

Tearing down, that's not possible right away. "You are left with a big hole in the ground here," says project manager Paul Kieboom of the Oisterwijk municipality. "If we demolish the halls now, you are left with that hole. We can fill that with rubbish, but that's obviously not very sustainable." The municipality is now looking for a way to combine demolition and construction. The same developer can then in one go demolish the buildings, close the pools as well as build the new houses. At least, that is the idea for now.

The fact that demolition is still some time away is secretly convenient for Dylan van de Grift. You wouldn't know it from the outside of the building, but two people still live in the old day care centre that used to be near the swimming pool. Anti-squatting, they live separately in large rooms. Van de Grift, along with Parisian Youssef, is one of the residents. "I get to know a month in advance when I have to move out," he says.

For Van de Grift, this is the ideal place. There is plenty of space to pursue his profession as a musician, DJ and booking agent. There are five guitars in the house; in a room next to the living room he even has a full-fledged drum kit. He has decorated his little home entirely to his own taste. "I got extra furniture from Marketplace because the rooms are so spacious," he laughs. Above all, Van de Grift hopes he can stay here for at least another summer. He hopes that the hedge in front of his door will get green leaves again and that he can sit in the "little garden" in front of his door.

It seems hardly obvious that the property is inhabited and this was evident during a recent police check around the swimming pool. "In the unoccupied part of the property, there are motion detectors to counter squatters. The other day, one of those detectors went off and suddenly a policeman was standing in my garden," says the musician. "He was immediately very wary when he saw me; he immediately asked me for my ID. People are usually very surprised that this property is occupied, but often they find it super cool when they hear about it."

Councillor Spekle expects that the buildings can start to be demolished next year. If everything goes smoothly, anyway. After all, people may still go to court to oppose the disappearance of the parking spaces, for instance. The free parking spaces that are now around the swimming pool will not return at the Beekdal Park. "Those parking spaces were really linked to the function of the sports complex. I find it very logical that people have questions about that, but we are going to redesign the whole area. In those plans, those parking spaces cannot stay."

"With an object like this, vandalism and graffiti are lurking. There is good management on it, but you don't want things like this. We want to make sure this is cleaned up as soon as possible."

Article previously appeared in the Brabants Dagblad.