The new market hall will be located at the De Hemrik business park
Translated by Thomas Ansell
Work has just begun on a new 3.5 million euro project to re-house Leeuwarden’s livestock market. The market’s operators, Stichting Veehandel Noord-Nederland had previously rented space at the WTC Expo in Leeuwarden for the market, but decided that a new building was necessary- which will be ready in 2021. As reported by the Omrop Fryslân.
The new building will be located at the swish De Hemrik business park, on the Siriusweg. “We didn’t think that everything would go so quickly, but the 40th support pole is already up. The construction company is now working on another hall to supplement an existing one- which was too small for our plans. There will be 3,000 square metres of space, and the hall is going to be made in a modern way: it’s better for both people and animals”, says Andries Kingma, of the Stichting.
“This space was previously used by a distribution centre, and we’re adding to the existing building. It’s bigger, but more important still it’s more practical. We have used the WTC for the market every time since 1963”, Kingma added. The market has grown hugely since 1963, too: “on a yearly basis we have about 100,000 animals passing through: sheep, cows, calves. They are brought by dealers from across Friesland, Drenthe, and Groningen. They are then sold all over the Netherlands, but we also now work with people from across Europe”.
Henk Bleker, the head of the Vee & Logistiek industry group is also pleased with the new site: “it’s basically going to be a ‘Livestock Market 3.0’, with the best facilities for animal well-being, and also hygiene. It’s going to be one of the most modern in Europe”.
Image via Pikist.com
