'Innovation is in our DNA'

For many years, Interboor Midsland has been the reference in machining, drilling, sawing and anchoring in concrete. The company was even among the pioneers of working with diamond tools in the 1970s. Innovation is still in the DNA of the family business. An interview with director and owner Onno Dikkerboom about the special genesis and the many wonderful references.

The foundation for today's Interboor Midsland was laid in 1970 by Onno's father, Anne Dikkerboom. "At the time, he left the family business, founded by my 'oerpake' (Frisian for great-grandfather) in order to pursue his passion for engineering." Indeed, by birth, the Dikkerbooms are true dredgers. "My 'pake' ran a well-known dredging company: Dikkerboom & Sybrandy of Heerenveen and was at the cradle of large infrastructural projects. Among others, traffic junction Oudenrijn, the filling up of the sand layers as foundation for the first part of the A2 Utrecht - Amsterdam and the widening of the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal. The company also drained the entire Wieringermeer and later western Flevoland."

In 1969 Anne Dikkerboom stepped out of the family business as the eldest son and started a new business with concrete drilling techniques not seen before in those days. "As a true technician with entrepreneurial blood, he rapidly expanded the company and embraced innovative techniques. In 1977, for example, Interboor was the first company to cut a viaduct in half using a cable saw on behalf of the Department of Public Works. Revolutionary for the time. We were also one of the house contractors for the former Dodewaard Nuclear Power Plant. The fact that you are called in for such high-quality projects says something about your company," Dikkerboom believes. "My father therefore always set very high standards for quality, security and safety. The nuclear power plant required very specific anchors that had to meet extremely heavy requirements. In 1978 we also got our first major foreign job: drilling anchors in the pillars of the Bahrain Causeway for Ballast Nedam. Ten years later we were called in for the largest drilling job in Europe at the time: the doubling of the Schiphol rail tunnels for KSS - Strukton and HBW."

After a career in the Middle East with a diamond tools and anchors trading company, Dikkerboom has been involved with Interboor since 1993. In the early years as foreman and since 1999 as director-owner. "In addition to the regular drilling and sawing work in construction, infra and utilities, after the turn of the century we also began to specialize further in retrospective anchoring. Among other things, we placed anchors for all the fencing and vandalism screens of the Betuwe line, and we drilled all the anchors for the fencing of the HSL from Belgium to Amsterdam. We were also "right at home" at the North/South Line. We are currently working for the Sassevaart consortium on the New Terneuzen Lock, for which we are drilling recesses, performing sawing work and placing anchors for stairs, railings, etc. As Interboor, we are now preferred supplier to eight of the ten largest construction companies in the Netherlands. And we are quite proud of that. Thanks also to the dedication of our very loyal employees. People who have a genuine passion for their work and we take good care of them. That makes us regularly a step ahead of competitors."

One of Interboor's latest innovations is the RAB anchor for repairing wide slab floors. "After the collapse of the parking garage at Eindhoven Airport in 2017, we immediately set to work from our expertise in 'retrofit anchoring'. Together with Van Rossum Raadgevende Ingenieurs and B+BTec, this led to a unique concept with which we are tackling the wide slab floors problem. A low-noise, dust-free and extremely flexible method with which we are now reinforcing the JuBi towers in The Hague and dozens of other buildings in the Netherlands, among others."