Every minute, a building is demolished in Europe. This summer, the former Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SoZa) is next. Two years ago, a community of about 560 professionals, academics, students, and locals submitted a petition to the House of Representatives against SoZa's demolition — without result. With this new petition, in a changed political landscape after general elections and a new Coalition Agreement of the Government, we hope to make a difference and show these signers are not alone, but widely supported in The Hague, the Netherlands, across Europe and around the world.

The Ten Truths about SoZa:

1.     Sound Condition — A 56,000 m² building complex, completed in 1990, still within its service life and structurally sound.

2.     Outstanding Designer — Herman Hertzberger, one of the most renowned Dutch architects and a key figure in Structuralism.

3.     Visionary Design — A building designed for flexibility, enabling changes of space, form, and use over time.

4.     Living Together — Home today to a rich diversity of users, such as vulnerable people, refugees, students, entrepreneurs and artists, and functions as housing, a horeca school, a language school, a neighbourhood cafe, artist studios, and creative industries.

5.     Renovation First — A building that can be renovated should not be demolished. Renovation alternatives have already been proposed, including by Hertzberger himself.

6.     Legal Gap — Heritage designation is the only legal instrument to stop demolition in the Netherlands — unlisted buildings need only a four-week notice to be demolished.

7.     Heritage Community — SoZa has an active heritage community as defined under the Faro Convention, which the Netherlands signed in 2024.

8.     European Alarm — Shortlisted amongst the 14 most endangered heritage sites of 2026 in Europe by Europa Nostra's 7 Most Endangered programme.

9.     Broken Promise — SoZa was public wealth, sold on the condition to be renovated. That condition disappeared when ownership changed.

10.  Carbon Cost — Demolishing 56,000 m² of structurally sound building stock and constructing anew generates avoidable and irreversible carbon emissions.

SoZa's demolition conflicts with the Paris Agreement, the European Climate Law, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and the Faro Convention.

We call on Ministers Letschert, Van Veldhoven-van der Meer, and Boekholt-O'Sullivan to honour the Netherlands' treaty obligations and act before it is too late. The Dutch Council of State warned in its 2025 Annual Report against prioritising short-term benefits over the long-term quality of the living environment, "a certain tyranny of the present", and SoZa is its victim.

SoZa should be renovated, not demolished. Sign this petition.

Together we make sustainability and the respect for everyone’s heritage "the New Normal"!

Petition Text 2026 (UK) . Petitie Tekst 2026 (NL)​

Petition Text & List 2024 (UK) . Petitie Tekst & Lijst 2024 (NL) 

#savesoza #stopdemolition #renovationfirst #heritage #hertzberger #structuralism

Contact: Anneke de Gouw, Heemschut Zuid-Holland zuid-holland@heemschut.nl

Photo: Former Ministry of Social Affairs at Anna van Hannoverstraat 4 in The Hague (Choinowski, 2015)