The Ooievaar Plan was the winning plan at the Eo Wijers competion in 1986. The name ‘Ooievaar’ (‘Stork’ ) was chosen as the pseudonym reference to the essentials of the plan.
The Ooievaar Plan proposed a new structure and water management method for the river system that crosses the Netherlands from east to west. Developed by the founders of H+N+S in the late 1980s, the Ooievaar Plan was their first experiment using what they called the “casco” concept. Casco is a Dutch word meaning a structure like the shell of a building or the hull of a ship, which sets the general shape and guides future detailed development.

The concentration of natural development in the river floodplain leads to the formation of a coherent framework of such a size that prospects of self-regulating natural processes arise, and exceptional forms of recreation become possible. The basin areas are landscaped for agrarian use, so that the existing farms can continue operation in the future. Flexibility is built in by the dimensions and a double water system (high and low level) which enables farmers to manage the groundwater level of each plot to suit its specific use. Landscape features plants in the dyke-protected areas, which currently suffer from a falling water table, are linked to the high water system so that a framework is formed on a smaller scale too.

Major changes are imminent in the river region. At present it can safely cope with peak drainage capacity of 15.000 cubic metres per second at Lobith. But climate change is leading to higher peaks. In 2015 a maximum drainage of 16.000 cubic metres is expected, and in 2050 it rises as high as 18.000. The aim of the Room for the River project was to lay down a set of concrete measures for the safety of the river region in 2015, related to a long-term plan for 2050. As part of Room for the River, H+N+S has, contributed to the development of this long-term plan and a regional spatial framework. The long-term plan seeks coherence between the individual measures for the rivers – dyke relocation, lowering floodplains, new retention areas and green or blue rivers – and links with other spatial programmes.

A number of consistent sets of measures have been developed with the aid of integrated concepts for the future. In the concept called ‘Beads on the string; concentration and dynamics’, the room for the river is concentrated in dynamic areas and is linked to the development of the network cities. One dominant measure is the construction of a number of retention areas. In the concept called ‘Old and new rivers, robust and natural’, the morphological processes of the rivers provide the inspiration for the generous extension floodplains. A few measures on a very large scale, such as green rivers and dyke relocation will give rise to river regions with a distinctive character. In addition, ‘the widened river ribbon: linear and balanced’ spreads the pain of these changes equally. In this case, space is sought for the substantial excavation of floodplains and the relocation of a number of dykes.