Platform on new construction, renovation, restoration and transformation
After the impressive project Up:town, Hoco Beton is once again working for Stebru on a sensational project. For De Groene Kaap on Katendrecht, Hoco Beton is supplying over 4,500 m³ of precast concrete elements.
For the first and second blocks of this project, Hoco Concrete is supplying both sandwich elements (almost 1,550 m³) and single-shell elements (over 430 m³). In addition, the concrete specialist is supplying some 2,600 m³ of decorative concrete such as colonnades, elements used as decorative cladding for the structural columns, and gray precast elements. These include, among others: walls, balconies, galleries, columns, flower boxes, stairs, landings and block steps.
Sandwich elements
"Since April of this year, we have been engineering it 'prefab,'" says Head of Operations Luc Op de Beke of Hoco Concrete. "The biggest challenge here are the sandwich elements. These replaced the hsb elements originally included in the design. When we started in April, the sandwich elements had yet to be incorporated into the design and therefore had yet to be fully engineered." The sandwich elements consist of gray concrete with stone strips and white facade bands. The outer leaf of the sandwich elements is anchored to the inner leaf with fiberglass rods. These rods function as a lattice girder in which only tensile and compressive forces occur. The advantage of this anchoring is that they are easier to apply during the production process. During execution, the advantage is that thermal bridges are prevented.
Single-scale elements and colonnades
The single-shell elements are located in the towers and plinths of De Groene Kaap. Op de Beke: "Unlike the sandwich elements in the tower, these elements in the plinths are mounted afterwards. To ensure that everything fits seamlessly, the suspension system is integrated into our 3D model through BIM exchange. For this project, by the way, everything is exchanged in 3D." The colonnades have a structure similar to crinkled paper. This structure is realized with rubber mats, which are incorporated into the wooden molds.
Implementation for remain
The project is subject to a tight schedule. "The engineering process is fully aligned according to the construction routing," says Op de Beke. All parties involved follow this sequence so that everyone works as efficiently as possible. The sandwich elements are worked out per building layer. In this way, we stay ahead of execution and the elements are delivered just-in-time. The engineering of the sandwich elements for Block 2 will start in early January, production of the elements will start in mid 2019. The gray precast has been largely worked out and is already being delivered.
