Replacement issue becomes maintenance issue

The Netherlands is full of buildings and works of art from the building boom of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and they are in need of replacement. With the current issues of nitrogen, CO2 and labor shortages, it seems impossible to get the desired new construction done. It is time to shift attention to maintenance. According to the Concrete Maintenance Platform, the industry is capable of doing just that. 

World War II had a significant impact on the composition of the population. The baby boom caused the Netherlands to face a strongly aging population. The built environment shows a similar picture. Due to the heady building programs that swept through the country in the decades following the war, we are now left with a reservoir of buildings, artworks and infrastructure that is coming to the end of its useful life, or already is. Anthony van den Hondel, president of the Concrete Maintenance Platform (BOP), is working hard to maximize awareness of these issues. In the concrete sector, the BOP organizes an annual Concrete Repair Afternoon and is also present on Concrete Day. "But then you often speak for your own parish. We also want to see the message land with parties such as clients, owners and managers."

That message is clear. Van den Hondel: "The replacement demand of the built environment has become a maintenance demand. If you just map out how old all the structures are and start planning new construction for them, you get a huge hump. With the problems the construction industry is currently in, that is a hopeless operation. In order to flatten that hump - flatten the curve - you will have to spread the construction task out over many decades. So we will have to make do with the bulk of the infrastructure for a long time, and that means a huge maintenance problem anyway. And the realization that what is there now is worth its weight in gold. That also applies to some of the buildings. So the maintenance sector sees a huge amount of work coming up." 

The maintenance industry itself is ready. "Since the 1980s, we have been leading the way in the Netherlands when it comes to knowledge and expertise," Van den Hondel states. "We are also active in bringing in good people. You hear that in almost all industries. In order to retain people, it is important to be able to offer perspective and work with a long-term strategy. With a government that has recently become less reliable, the current nitrogen crisis and new elections, this is difficult. One-time €5 billion investments in maintenance will not work. That only leads to a harmonica movement, not a stable market. It would therefore be nice if governments and other clients would become more aware of the market and create a stable demand for maintenance. Our industry can then counter this with a stable supply and in this way we can collectively face the enormous problems. A lot of maintenance is needed to ensure that many buildings and works of art remain standing at all."

Another shortcoming that concerns Van den Hondel is the more recent damage cases that lead to unbalanced decisions. "We all know the bulb floor of the collapsed parking garage in Eindhoven and the balcony in Leeuwarden that fell down. So there have been a number of damage cases in recent years where the government has responded rather ad hoc. 'All cantilevered galleries must be checked and repaired,' 'no one should go into their homes there.' Politics just shouts something and saddles the market, already struggling with capacity shortages, with impossible tasks. Files like that need to be handled more carefully, in a workable way and without bringing society to a standstill."

Back in 2000, the Department of Public Works described the lack of maintenance of engineering structures and the consequent increasing need for even more maintenance as "the accelerating backlog. "I think it is time for all parties to engage in a broad discussion to tackle this huge social problem structurally now, rather than with ad hoc measures," Van den Hondel concludes. "We are ready for it."