Concrete work at RIVM CBG requires flexibility

Things can be strange. One day you're driving along the A27 near Utrecht, you see four tall concrete cores with cranes on them and you think, as a concrete builder: that would look great on your resume as a company. A few months later you find yourself with an entire team doing full-time concrete work on that same job. That happened to Erwin Ruiter, director of BSE betonwerken from Ermelo. The project concerns the new construction of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the agency of the Board for the Evaluation of Medicines (CBG), measuring 70,000 m².

In July, MEET RIVM CBG BV contacted Erwin Ruiter. BSE is known as a flexible and reliable concrete builder, so when they were facing a capacity problem on this job due to circumstances, they asked if BSE could assist with setting precast walls. After one day, Ruiter called back to pledge his cooperation.

Floor pouring in full swing.

Cascade construction

The complex at Uithof consists of the eighteen-story TN tower, the four-story SL building and a plinth building. The imposing 76-meter-high cores of the high-rise are constructed with sliding formwork. Around them, a shell structure is made with prefabricated columns, poured floors and prefabricated facade elements that still receive a second skin. Ruiter: "We started assisting with the assembly of the precast walls in the summer. Currently, we are also taking care of the pouring of the noses at the four cores, making formwork for the floors, including floor grooves and taking care of the pouring and finishing of the floors, applying the required protection everywhere and chopping up cuttings boxes."

Erwin Ruiter next to the four cubic meter cubel.

A hundred noses

"When you consider that a floor is two thousand square meters and there are eighteen floors, you realize the scale of this work. So when asked to pour up a series of noses as well, we are immediately talking about a hundred pieces," Ruiter clarified. "The scale is enormous. There is also considerable time pressure on the construction. Even then we act as a point of contact for the contractor. With the first night frost, we arranged for extra people in a very short time to ensure that the curing of the concrete did not slow down. The work must go on!"

The large cubel is used in places where the concrete pump cannot reach.

Biggest pump, big cubel

Large resources are being used for the many cubic meters of concrete that are disappearing in the new building. Ruiter: "Despite it being a huge project, we get a long way with the concrete pump. For this we use the Schwing S 65 SXF, the largest concrete pump in Europe, supplied by Gebr. Van Antwerpen, which did its first pour here. This machine can work up to 65 meters high and has a net horizontal reach of 60 meters. Where the pump cannot reach, we pour with our own tub that holds four cubic meters of concrete. This way, we keep the speed up."

For BSE concrete works, this project is right on target. "Our knowledge, capacity and flexibility come into their own here."   

Concrete pump at work.