Tjakko Smit at De Woerd VOF, a subsidiary of Bouwfonds and winner of the Rietveld public prize 2007: “In De Woerd residential park in Utrecht we immediately planted larger sizes of trees. This had a positive effect on the image of the project. The purchasers of the houses experience the greenery as an important element in their overall perception of the residential environment. They regard the trees as extremely attractive and the appearance on delivery corresponds with what they were shown in the prospectus. The houses that were sold after delivery of the first section were in even greater demand due to the presence of the large trees. I expect that we will be using larger trees more often in future projects. The costs in relation to the total investment are relatively low and the overall impact is significant.”