Dust-free headhunting on the Blankenburg connection

Using a brand-new crane and a cracker with dust suppression, the family-owned company managed to expedite 580 foundation piles in phases on one of the largest infrastructure projects in the Netherlands. Fully fitted into the schedule of client BAAK and balancing on trestles and bulkheads 150 centimeters above the work floor. Just before this edition of GWW went to press, Blijleven Koppensnellers scored a follow-up job: driving an additional 3,600 piles.

Headhunting has traditionally been a heavy and labor-intensive job, but Blijleven Headhunters has elevated it to a true art. "The sawing is now done mechanically, the piles are cut hydraulically with dust misting and the debris is scooped up with a crane," explains John Blijleven. "As a result, there is no longer any dust nuisance from headhunting. We are the first company in the Netherlands with a self-developed dust atomization system on all of our 40 pile crushers. Unfortunately, preventing dust is not yet the priority of every contractor, despite it being an obligation. Fortunately, BAAK does appreciate it."

Blijleven Kopensnellers has been mainly active on the Blankenburg connection with the head-cutting of the piles for the Holland Tunnel ramp. "We cut the square precast piles vk450 (with eight or twelve reinforcement bars, round 25 millimeters) between 1 and 2 meters from a flexible work location on trestles and bulkheads. In doing so, we followed the contractor's schedule. In this case, BAAK could not excavate everything at once. That would cause the ground to crack open. So the excavation was done in phases, as was the headhunting. The crane did not leave the pit. That is our strength: we are very flexible as a company. All in all, we look back on a project that went well. It's always pleasant working with infrastructure contractors." And that turns out to be mutual, because the innovative family company has also been allowed to cut another 3,045 piles (also vk450) on the other side of the Holland Tunnel and another 625 piles of the same type at the Maas Delta Tunnel access road.