Trendsetters in (concrete) construction

For forty years Hakron has been the reference in the Netherlands in the supply of accessories for concrete structures, formwork and housing construction. With a sophisticated product range, expert advice and its own engineering department, Hakron is much more than just a trading company. Alexander Zalm, engineer at Hakron Netherlands, highlights a number of interesting product categories.

The Hakron Group consists of four operating companies: Hakron, Certacon, Hakron-Terwa and Innofix. "With Hakron, we focus mainly on wet construction and residential construction. Hakron-Terwa supplies accessories for the precast industry, while Certacon focuses on structural support such as lintels, facade supports and masonry support," Salmon clarified. "So with Hakron, we basically supply everything on, to, fixed or in the concrete. Everything except the concrete itself and rebar."

Relatively new to Hakron's range are the KOMO-certified ISOPRO thermal bridge interruptions from German manufacturer H-BAU. "With this concept, a constructive connection between concrete structural parts can be realized without creating a thermal bridge. The concept is widely used for cantilevered parts such as balcony slabs, galleries, parapets, walls and floor edges. But ISOPRO also lends itself perfectly to the thermal interruption of steel-concrete connections, whereby a steel structure can subsequently be mounted to a shell without thermal bridging. ISOPRO complies with fire resistance class R90 and/or REI120. Because the concept is modular, we can achieve very short delivery times of a few working weeks, even for the 'specials'. That is truly unique. We provide the engineering in-house with support from the manufacturer, H-BAU."

Another product category that Salmon is keen to highlight are the column and wall boots from Finnish manufacturer RSTEEL®. "We supply a complete range in increasing load classes. A big advantage of these products is that you can place concrete elements very easily and brace-free. No more props are needed. In addition, these products fit perfectly into the circular idea. In theory, you can unscrew the columns and walls at the end of the service life or if a structure is moved. It remains a bolted connection. That makes it an interesting product group. So we notice an increasing demand for these products. As Hakron, we supply both the column and wall bolts, the anchor bolts and the calculation, with again, if necessary, support from the manufacturer."

'Invisibly' connect a staircase or landing to a concrete structure? It can be done with the TSS units from Norwegian manufacturer Invisible Connections. "This hidden platform support avoids the installation of a usually less attractive angle line. The units are cast into the platform. This is a sleeve-in-sleeve concept, where the inner sleeve provides the connection by sliding it into a recess. It is then a matter of installing a foam tape and casting on with a shrinkage-resistant mortar to make the connection fire-resistant. It results in an aesthetically pleasing and rigid connection."

"The above is just a sampling of our extensive and unique product range," Salmon assures. "As a total supplier, we can completely unburden our customers. Not only with the 'specials' but also with regular products such as anchors, sealants and so on. Partial deliveries are no problem either. In principle, we come twice a week throughout the Netherlands with our own logistics branch."