Sandra Maas, Managing Director at Hague Corporate Affairs.
Sandra Maas, Managing Director at Hague Corporate Affairs. Sandra Maas recently started
Managing Partner Peter ter Horst once made the promise that he would never leave the he office on the “Fluwelen Burgwal, The Hague”. However, this could not be further from the truth. Hague Corporate Affairs will move to the Lange Voorhout in The Hague on 18 July 2023. Are you curious to know why? Then read Peter’s article below.
On a beautiful June day in 2016, I made a promise to our clients and friends. It was at the grand opening in the front garden of our office. “Hague will never be bigger than this house,” is how I concluded my speech, intoxicated by the cosy grandeur of our 17th-century building on the Fluwelen Burgwal in the heart of The Hague.
I don’t like breaking promises to clients, but this one I did break. Apologies: we are moving to a bigger, more beautiful building in the centre of The Hague.
Looking back, it was my not so youthful overconfidence. Hague was just learning to walk. We were still breathing startup in everything. And we moved into that beautiful ‘House of Hague’, in which our few employees could still get lost. The house provided room for growth, to allow us to fulfil our ambitious plans. But never had we expected to grow so much that some day we would have to move out.
And now the time has come. We couldn’t stay any longer: we could no longer offer our 20-plus employees in the Netherlands and our visiting colleagues from Brussels a suitable workplace. Everyone was sitting somewhat too close together, we had too few possibilities to make quiet phone calls and our meeting rooms were permanently full. Our clients sometimes looked somewhat puzzled when the supermarket delivery man had to walk through the meeting room towards the kitchen. It couldn’t be helped, but the startup surroundings were beginning to hinder us. With a feeling of melancholy, we had to acknowledge it. I had to start breaking my promise.
We wanted to preserve the atmosphere of a building with history. We found the perfect place on, according to locals, the most beautiful avenue in Europe: Lange Voorhout. The oldest houses were built around 1450. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the sound of carriages on the shell path. Once a year, a carriage still passes in front of our door on the third Tuesday of September (Prinsjesdag, Dutch Budget Day). Once a year, a carriage still passes in front of our door on the third Tuesday of September (Prinsjesdag, Dutch Budget Day). And with art club Pulchri and theatre Diligentia opposite the new location and the Royal Theatre around the corner,
we are right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of cultural life in The Hague. Beautiful meeting rooms in various sizes on the ground floor. Plenty of space for our colleagues on the first and second floors. Private parking spaces behind the building. Enough space to grow further and hold events for our clients and relations, because it should also be their ‘clubhouse’. Here we will never…no, I won’t do this again.
Our clients, some of whom were already with us celebrating the opening of our previous location in 2016, have made this possible. They have lifted us from startup to a successful public affairs and communications agency. We have worked hard to make it a House of Hague again. The location may change, but we don’t. Be welcome at Lange Voorhout 20, The Hague.
Peter ter Horst
Managing Partner
Are you curious about the new location? Want to learn more about what Hague can do for your company? Or do you simply want to discuss concerns, challenges, or opportunities that you observe? Then fill out the form below. We will gladly contact you without commitment.
Sandra Maas, Managing Director at Hague Corporate Affairs. Sandra Maas recently started