Dutch Engineering brings production to the Netherlands

On the Energieweg in Zoeterwoude, under the smoke of the large Heineken beer brewery, Dutch Engineering will one of these days be able to start up production of ComFlor steel sheet concrete floor slabs. Previously, most variants of the ComFlor system were still rolled in Britain, but after the Brexit it became more rational to bring production to the Netherlands. This will soon take place in a completely renovated hall adjacent to Dutch Engineering's existing office. You can't get any closer.

For the operation, an existing hall was renovated to serve as a production hall. This is sandwiched between the office building where Dutch Engineering resides and a lower hall, which will serve as storage space. To function as a production hall, the building was raised with a new steel structure. This created space for a 15-ton crane track mounted above the new production lines. 

JG Steel Sheet Concrete Flooring from Tolkamer handled the installation of the roof. This company works a lot with the products from Dutch Engineering's ComFlor program. "We also used them for the roof of the renovated hall," says Wim Snelders, director-owner of JG Steel Sheet Concrete Flooring. "To be precise, the ComFlor 210 was used here. This is a high steel plate that allows large stamp-free spans. In this case, no concrete is poured on top. There is 5 cm of rock wool insulation on top and 14 cm of PIR, which is finished with light gray PVC roofing. This package carries the solar installation that was brought back from the old roof."

Dutch Engineering wanted a column-free hall that ended up being 17.5 meters wide and 53 meters long. For the roof construction, 7.5-meter-long ComFlor 210 panels were laid on top of the steel structure. The Viavac vacuum lifter was used to handle the 80-kilogram panels. Snelders: "In order to neatly conceal the pipes of the E- and W-installations above the crane track in the roof construction, JG Staalplaatbetonvloeren fitted steel sealing strips for the 210 mm high steel plate system at Dutch Engineering's request. They look like a letterbox and were specially tailored for this work."

The walls are filled in with (fire-resistant) sandwich panels. The hall has white interior walls for a pleasant working environment. Roof lights in the new roof construction and the translucent end walls provide sufficient daylighting. These skylights are also relatively easy to incorporate into the ComFlor system. 

Even during the last work on the facade, the people of Dutch Engineering were already busy building up the production lines. There, under a familiar roof, the first ComFlor sheet will soon roll off the conveyor belt. Perhaps JG Steel Sheet Concrete Flooring already has a nice use for it.