Badhuiskade 217 · Built 2021
Amsterdam's housing stock is beautiful, but much of it is old. Older homes bring charm: and also cold winters, expensive energy bills, noise, and maintenance surprises. Here's what changes when the building was completed in 2021.
Most Dutch apartments built before 2010 carry an energy label of D, E, or worse. That translates directly into your monthly costs: high gas bills in winter, a leaky building envelope, and little you can do about it short of a full renovation.
Badhuiskade 217 is the opposite. Solar panels are built into the facade of the tower: they generate electricity year-round, visibly or not. The building's insulation, triple-glazed windows, and heat recovery ventilation mean very little energy escapes at all.
The result: the building generates more energy than residents consume. Net positive. Your energy costs are dramatically lower than in an older home: and you're insulated from utility price spikes in ways that most Amsterdam homeowners simply aren't.
This is a straightforward comparison. Not every older home is the same, but these are the patterns that come up again and again for buyers in Amsterdam.
| Topic | Older Amsterdam apartment Typical pre-2000 stock |
Badhuiskade 217 Built 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Energy label | D, E or lower: high bills year-round | A+++: net positive energy production |
| Winter heating cost | €300–400/month common in older homes | Minimal: well-insulated, no gas |
| Summer comfort | No cooling; top-floor units can be very hot | Full heating and cooling system |
| Noise insulation | Thin walls, old windows: neighbours, street, trams | Triple-glazed, modern construction standards |
| Air quality | Poor ventilation; windows must be opened manually | Continuous heat-recovery ventilation |
| Maintenance risk | Roof leaks, old pipes, rising damp are common | New build: under warranty, no hidden defects |
| VvE (owners association) | Often under-funded; large repairs become disputes | Professionally managed, well-funded reserve |
| Mice / pests | Common in older ground-floor and basement apartments | Modern sealed construction: not an issue |
| Layout | Often awkward: subdivided historical floor plans | Purpose-designed, well-proportioned rooms |
Sound insulation in older Dutch apartments is often thin. Wall construction standards have improved dramatically: and in a building completed in 2021, those improvements are built in from the start.
Triple-glazed windows eliminate the drone of distant traffic and street noise. The concrete and steel structure of a modern tower absorbs sound between floors and apartments far better than the wood-framed floors common in 19th and early 20th-century Amsterdam housing.
This is one of the things that's hard to appreciate from a floor plan or a Funda listing. It becomes obvious the moment you spend a quiet evening in the apartment.
"Triple-glazed windows eliminate the drone of distant traffic: and the wood-framed floors of 19th-century Amsterdam have no place here."
Older Amsterdam apartments were typically designed for different lifestyles, then subdivided further over decades. The result is often awkward: rooms that don't quite work, hallways that feel wasted, kitchens added as afterthoughts. Badhuiskade 217 was designed from the ground up: proportioned rooms, a coherent flow, natural light where it matters.
Viewings are available this week. Call 020-3052662 or submit a request: we respond within one business day.