Landal Olde Kottink in Twente welcomed its first guests on April 4, 2025. It's a small-scale park, and phase 1 has now been completed. Managers Geert and Daphne explain: "The small scale and unique location right next to the Dinkelland Natura 2000 area demand a business operation that respects the natural surroundings." This starts with the infrastructure, for which Seijsener Recreatietechniek was commissioned. The design also ensured that the park management retains control over many of their utilities.
Landal Olde Kottink was developed by Paradys Recreatie on the site of the Olde Kottink nature campsite. A cooperative of the Owners' Association is closely involved in the development, as they manage the park's operations, with support from Landal. In phase 1, 39 holiday homes were built, and a central building with wellness facilities and a compact indoor play area was also opened. However, the park's true appeal lies in its beautiful natural surroundings and location on the Dinkel River. Phase 2, with the development of an additional 26 homes, was still in full swing (as of May 2025). With these kinds of developments, stakeholders from the region, among others, are increasingly scrutinizing the sustainable impact of such a new project. Ecological specialist ID Verde was hired to design and implement the landscaping and planting for a climate-adaptive park that focuses on themes such as biodiversity, climate, and spatial quality.
Recreational technology; not very visible, but crucial for sustainable exploitation
The recreational technology, including energy supply, water, sewer, and fiber optic cables, will be largely invisible to visitors. This entire infrastructure, built by Seijsener, is largely underground. It's essential that this component is well-thought-out beforehand, as it forms the foundation upon which daily operations, as well as future developments, depend. Ronald van den Heuvel, who managed this project on behalf of Seijsener, will give a tour of the site. Geert de Boer will also explain the matters he considers important as park manager.
Power; Just beat the grid congestion
The transition from a nature campsite to a park with 65 holiday homes has had a huge impact on the required electricity capacity. While the old nature campsite could manage with a low-voltage connection, a high-voltage connection was now essential, especially since the park is gas-free. This was the first requirement the project developer wanted to establish when purchasing the site in 2021. Fortunately, there was no grid congestion in the Dinkelland region at the time, allowing them to secure this essential requirement with grid operator Enexis.
Van den Heuvel briefly explains the power supply: "Enexis provides a high-voltage connection at the edge of the park. We'll take over from there. A transformer station converts the power to medium-current, which can be used for the holiday homes and amenities in the park. The power generated by solar panels is also connected to this energy grid. Incidentally, the park's wellness center still generates a significant amount of energy."
Each holiday home has its own charging station for electric cars. Geert de Boer adds: "The demand for this facility has exceeded my expectations. Many people considered this important when booking."
Sewerage – also embedded in sustainable business operations
"A new holiday park must now have a separate system for rainwater and more polluted water. That's a legal requirement," explains Van de Heuvel. "The regular sewer system isn't that exciting. We've been doing that for years. At this hilly park, it runs to the lowest point, and from there we pump everything to the municipal connection."
The environmentally friendly design plays a key role in rainwater drainage. Van den Heuvel demonstrates how this works. "All rainwater must be collected in a separate sewer line. On this site, this line flows into wadis, which, due to their fluctuating water levels, support a unique ecosystem. When heavy rainfall occurs, the wadis overflow, and the water is siphoned into the Dinkel River."
Fiber optic; keep control of your own utilities
Fiber optic cable is also a basic service that's essential for any modern park. It's crucial for internet, television, and other data services. In the Netherlands, the distribution of television and internet services, among other things, is handled by several large network operators. They have also been interested in the recreation sector for several years. Van den Heuvel advocates for parks to make central agreements with a network operator: "At Olde Kottink, we've done this with network operator Delta. You have a pretty strong negotiating position because you're securing the connection for a large number of locations. You can also make agreements based on the channel package. This is useful if you have a lot of international guests, for example. Moreover, you can check every five years whether your current provider still offers the best price-quality ratio."
There's another development happening in the field of TV in vacation homes: guests increasingly have the option of streaming their home connection from their mobile phone to the TV in their vacation home. Geert de Boer is seeing this happen at Olde Kottink too: "We've installed a box with Google Chromecast on every TV to make this possible. This is a great solution, especially for less common international channels."
The same story also applies to the purchase of power supplies and drinking water, which you would prefer to arrange centrally for the entire park.
Overview of Seijsener's activities at Landal Olde Kottink:
- Electricity (all electric) 3x32A
- medium voltage purchasing station and transformer station
- Drinking water installation
- Fiber optic network
- Site lighting (Timberland)
- Sewage installation with pressure pump pit
- Rainwater installation
- Central car charging stations with payment system at the visitor parking lot
- Meter board installations in the bungalows
- Wall box at every bungalow
This article previously appeared in the Seijsener Business Magazine . It contains many more interesting case studies on infrastructure projects at recreation companies. Are you interested in this topic? Then request the magazine.
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