No circular economy without concrete maintenance

After years of organizing a Concrete Repair Afternoon in the north of the country, it was now the turn of the south of the country. On Thursday afternoon, March 30, the first Southern Concrete Repair Afternoon was held at the LocHal in Tilburg, organized by the Concrete Maintenance Platform.

The aim of the day was to show how sound research, maintenance, repair and strengthening of concrete structures contributes to the circular economy towards which we are heading. Not demolish but preserve, create new opportunities by strengthening and by using new techniques, with the slogan: "No circular economy without concrete maintenance.

Visitors were welcomed with a sandwich lunch. After the welcoming remarks by BOP president Anthony van den Hondel, who also served as moderator throughout the day, the various speakers began speaking.

After Patrick Dewez of Solid Services gave us an insight into the history of the location, and the surrounding area, where the Concrete Repair Afternoon was held, Gerard van der Steenhoven of the University of Twente and former chief director of the KNMI spoke about climate change, as a result of global warming due to the increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere. It became clear that there is a causal relationship between the rise in temperature and greenhouse gas emissions and that a contribution to their reduction by construction in general and the concrete industry in particular is certainly important. What one does need to be mindful of is "plugged emissions. For example, look not only at the replacement of cement in concrete, but also at in-house production and mobility, electricity and goods purchased, and use and disposal of products sold.

This question was posed by author and change professional Daan Fousert. Ecological intelligence is using what you need, without harming or restoring damage to nature, the earth and humanity. Sustainability is part of this. We can replace 30 to 50 percent of the cement in our concrete with used cement, limestone flour or chemical admixtures. That's great, of course, but repair should really be preferred because demolishing buildings also destroys the energy it took to build it.

Wouter van den Berg of Nebest talked about 'Closing the Loop'; a consortium developing circular solutions and innovations to give existing artworks a second life in the form of new artworks. A number of practical examples were reviewed, including the reuse of the girders under the A9 motorway near Keizer Karelweg in Amstelveen. Martijn Broekman of Bo-Ex showed a practical example in housing construction, the Ivoordreef plan in Utrecht, which in principle looked at which parts from the existing building could be reused in the new plan. As in Wouter van de Berg's example, it turned out that taking stock and "harvesting" are perhaps the most important steps in the process, with the inventory ultimately also looking at whether parts that might not be able to be used in the new plan could perhaps be reused in another project. Harvesting involves involving the demolisher early on to get the (im)possibilities clear.   

Two market segments were discussed: industry and residential construction. Pascal van Montfort of Royal HaskoningDHV and Joep lemmens of Sitech Services demonstrated the challenges they face in repairing and renovating some 7,000 columns, part of 'pipe racks' at Chemlot, so that this infrastructure can be used for another 25 years (or even longer). In the past, standard solutions were used, based on the insights, knowledge and key figures available at the time. New insights for maintenance are needed to bring in the right solutions. These solutions must be adaptable and widely applicable. Comparing different innovative maintenance measures in a test bed at the Chemelot site will help. Output of this living lab is the determination of the most optimal maintenance measures for a service life extension of 25 years. The maintenance experts present were invited to come up with sustainable solutions that will improve the performance of their assets.

For the housing practice example, client (Eric Parel, property manager at Hof Wonen) and executor (Chris Uittenbogaard, director at SealteQ West) spoke. It involved a life extension of 328 concrete balconies in an industrial neighborhood in Delft. Here, too, inventory under the guise of "measuring is knowing" was of great importance. The goal of renovating the balconies was to be able to operate the homes for another 15 years without major maintenance. Important to the success of this renovation was the formation of a construction team.

During the break and after the lectures, while enjoying snacks and drinks, there was plenty of time and space for networking at the networking plaza, where about 12 companies presented themselves with a booth. With a nice variety of speakers and topics and good networking opportunities, it was a useful and successful afternoon for many.