Work to restore the façade of the former royal palace of Soestdijk will take up to five years to complete after years of neglect, the lead contractor on the project has said.

Flip van de Burgt said the building had been maintained “at a minimum level” in the 22 years since it ceased to be used as a residential palace.

Wooden staircases and window frames have rotted away, plasterwork is riddled with cracks and mould and the zinc gutters are badly eroded. “They last for around 30 years, after which they get so thin that they leak,” said Van de Burgt.

The 17th-century palace was the home of Queen Juliana and her husband, Prince Bernhard, for more than 60 years until they died in 2004. The queen used it as the venue for her birthday celebrations on April 30 each year, with musical and theatre performances in the grounds.

In 2017 the Dutch state sold the estate to real estate group MeyerBergman, which intended to develop it as a hotel, café and retail arcade and build 100 luxury flats, but in 2024 the Council of State vetoed the plans.

Van de Burgt & Strooij, a building and restoration firm based in Amersfoort, is working on a new plan to turn Soestdijk into a venue for meetings and exhibitions, as well as a television studio.

Constructors are currently restoring the northern Baarn wing of the palace, followed by the southern Soest wing and finally the central section. The exterior alone is expected to take between four and a half and five years.

Managing director Flip van de Burgt said the company would maintain the original style of the building as closely as possible.

“We’re not working with different materials and for specific components such as window frames we’re trying to restore the existing materials as far as possible, rather than opting to replace them,” he told NOS. “But sometimes we have no choice.”

The company is now working on the details of the plan and hopes to be able to reveal more in November.