Renovation contractor in Amsterdam-Oost Renovating Amsterdam-Oost, from Betondorp to IJburg

A century of building in one district

The oldest part of Oost lies around the Oosterpark and in the Dapperbuurt, where building started in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The Indische Buurt came next: the polder was raised from 1897, and the neighbourhood went up in phases from 1900, 1908 and 1921. In the Transvaalbuurt, H.P. Berlage drew the street plan, and many workers' homes were built in the Amsterdam School style - full of character, but often small.

Further east, Watergraafsmeer is a polder drained in 1629 that lies about five metres below NAP. Betondorp was built there from 1923 as an experiment with concrete in social housing: around 900 homes by several architects. Since the 1990s the Eastern Docklands (Oostelijk Havengebied) have added apartment blocks on the KNSM and Java islands and low-rise houses on Borneo and Sporenburg, and since 2002 people have been moving onto IJburg, a group of islands built up from sand.

What that means for your renovation

• Indische Buurt: large parts of the neighbourhood were renewed in the 1980s and 1990s, and many former rental flats have since become owner-occupied. That usually means a VvE, whose rules for floors, sound insulation and working hours apply before we start.
• Betondorp: the concrete walls soon turned out not to be fully watertight, which caused damp, and in 1987-1989 the neighbourhood was restored as closely as possible to its original state. Before we insulate or tile against such a wall, we measure the moisture.
• Watergraafsmeer: the homes stand deep in the polder, so before a new floor with underfloor heating goes in, we check the crawl space and the moisture level.
• Eastern Docklands and IJburg: the homes date from the 1990s or later. Replacing a kitchen or bathroom from those years rarely touches the structure, and in apartment blocks the VvE decides on floor build-up and acoustics.
• On Borneo's Scheepstimmermanstraat and on IJburg's self-build plots, houses were designed one by one, each with its own details, so we start from the drawings of your house.

What we do in Oost

• Bathrooms with walk-in showers and underfloor heating, also in compact pre-war flats - see our bathroom renovations.
• Kitchens: bespoke, or IKEA kitchens fitted with premium fronts and stone worktops.
• Complete renovations of apartments and houses, with one site manager from start to handover.
• Floors, stairs and built-in cabinetry made to measure, also for small rooms.
• Windows and doors, and loft conversions with a dormer, including the permit application.

Permits and street rules in Oost

Internal renovation usually needs no permit. An extension, a dormer or a change to the façade does: you apply through the national Omgevingsloket, and we prepare the drawings and the application. Betondorp has been a municipal protected cityscape (beschermd stadsgezicht) since December 2022, so changes to façades, windows and roofs there are weighed against the value of the area. In apartment buildings the owners' association (VvE) has its own rules for floors, acoustics and working hours. More in our guide to permits, monuments and VvE.

Under Amsterdam's local bylaw (APV), materials may stand on the street only briefly while the work is being done; longer use of the street, for example for a container, needs permission from the city. Business parking permits only apply in the area where a company is registered, so we plan parking and deliveries with you before the work starts.

Living in Oost and planning a renovation? Ask for a free visit - we reply within one working day. For a first indication, try our online cost calculator or read what a renovation costs per m².