Redevelopment former Telegraph Building | Project in city center is logistical challenge

Redevelopment with equal cooperation

In March 2020, BAM Bouw en Techniek will complete the redevelopment of the former Telegraaf building on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam. Although it was not easy to work in the middle of the city center, the construction company cites the cooperation with the client and consultants as most special.

Completion of the floors and basement of the building is scheduled for the end of January 2020. "Guerilla Games, as tenant, will then have the office floors delivered and furnish them as it sees fit," says project manager Thijs Putter of BAM Bouw en Techniek Region Northwest. "That is why we are delivering the floors and the basement earlier. By the end of March, we will also have completed and delivered the commercial space on the first floor."

The former Telegraph Building on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.

The construction company provided coordination from demolition to completion of the building on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, owned by real estate company Kroonenberg Group. "We did not carry out this work alone, but in collaboration with architectural firm Rijnboutt, IMD Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Nelissen engineering firm and VB&T project management. Working closely with the client, we jointly developed and implemented Kroonenberg Group's plans."

Open and transparent

BAM Bouw en Techniek's relationship with Kroonenberg Group has been ongoing for some time. "Previously, we worked together on the renovation of shopping center Gelderlandplein in Amsterdam and the redevelopment of the Kalverpassage in the center of this city," says superintendent Sjacco Jaques of BAM Bouw en Techniek Region Northwest. "The special form of collaboration is laid down in 'The Round Table,' a form on the basis of which BAM collaborates more often and also with other clients. Its main characteristics are: openness, equality, transparency and project interests come first and the joint management of risks."

architecture

Logistical challenge

The redevelopment of the former Telegraaf building on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in the center of Amsterdam began after the summer of 2017. The renovated building will have approximately 7,300 square meters of office space over five floors and an indoor two-level parking garage for office tenants' cars and bicycles. The first floor will feature approximately 2,700 square feet of commercial space with an entrance on Kalverstraat and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. "We used only high-quality materials," Jaques says. "The inner-city nature of the project did create a logistical challenge. For example, the municipalities regularly break up roads for maintenance, so the route to the construction site can change every day."

In addition, BAM built a tower crane for the conversion of the fifth floor and construction of the atrium. "Such a tower crane is already quite a task, but in the middle of the city there are even more challenges," Putter points out. "Just think about walking public, streetcars, cars and cyclists." To manage this, BAM environmental manager Otto Wiegand brought together various parties, including the City of Amsterdam, GVB and BAM equipment, to ensure a permit so that this work could be realized. "This gave us months of preparation time, but thanks to good cooperation with all parties, it did produce the desired result."