Europe's most innovative distribution center

A large distribution center is currently under construction there. Commissioned by Bouwbedrijf van de Ven, ABBS, DKC Totaaltechniek B.V. and Kanters Elektro are providing the installation work. "This will be the most innovative distribution center in Europe."

In the Vorstengrafdonk industrial park, a new distribution center of over 46,000 square meters is springing up on Paalgravenlaan - near the well-known and eponymous junction on the A50 and A59 motorways. It stands on 9.3 hectares of land and is 25 meters high. The enormous size is not for nothing: this new distribution center will replace four existing distribution centers and will supply all 270 PLUS supermarkets.

'Our sprinkler systems are mandatory, but no one ever hopes to use them'

The dimensions impress Mirek Zielinski (DKC Totaaltechniek B.V.), John van Lankvelt (Kanters Elektro) and Björn van Keppelen (ABBS), who are responsible for the installation techniques. For example, ABBS takes care of everything around fire protection in the building, including the sprinkler system. This also requires Van Keppelen to be on the roof, to take care of the sprinklers there. "I'm not afraid of heights, but a height of 25 meters does make an impression," he thinks. Van Lankvelt prefers not to get that high. "We are responsible for all the electrical installations, such as lighting, data, sound, CCTV, intrusion protection, access control, grounding and power supplies. But I didn't do those connections in the ceiling myself. In fact, I prefer not to work at that height, but my younger colleagues have no problems with that."

Sustainability

Both companies have been involved in the construction of the immense building since April 2020; DKC Totaaltechniek B.V. was involved earlier. This company was already involved by PLUS in the preliminary stage to make the design for the installation technology. The Wijchen installation company then went to work on the mechanical installations itself. "This distribution center is a BREEAM-NL 'Outstanding' project," says Zielinski. "Here the emphasis is on energy savings and CO2 reduction through the application of sustainable installations such as air handling units combined with adiabatic cooling. We also apply collective heat pumps to provide the building with additional sustainable cooling and heating."

That level of sustainability in this project mainly affects the mechanical systems and control technology to monitor and regulate the temperature in the building, Zielinski points out. "The warehouse will be fully automated with a heat load of motors of over 1,050 kW. We chose free cooling with adiabatic cooling, which allows up to an outside temperature of 26ºC to cool the building. At warmer outdoor temperatures, the heat pumps come into operation in cooling mode, so that the indoor climate in the warehouse is still guaranteed at extreme outdoor temperatures. The systems are positioned on the roof, so that during breakdowns and maintenance, technicians do not have to be in the warehouse. Thus, the temperature in the entire warehouse will remain below 25ºC and PLUS has more freedom in storage of temperature-sensitive products."

Kanters Elektro's work also meets the BREEAM-NL 'Outstanding' level that PLUS wants to achieve with its distribution center. "Among other things, we have taken care of the LED lighting, the lighting control and the measurement of the energy consumption of the building-related installations. To meet the power supply, there will be three transformer stations of 2,500 kVA each," Van Lankvelt points out. For ABBS, safety counts above all. "Our installations are mandatory, but no one ever hopes to use the installation," says Van Keppelen. "The installation is laid out as such that not all the sprinklers immediately turn on, should a fire break out. They operate independently based on a response temperature. The water supply comes from tanks and is fed by pump sets to the relevant sprinkler area. After we transfer the installation to PLUS next August, we do continue to test the sprinkler system every two weeks toward annual maintenance. In addition, we will then start the installation in the automated warehouse racks."

Distribution System

Besides the size of the building and the high level of sustainability sought, the gentlemen name another aspect as special. "This will house Witron's most advanced distribution system, making this the most innovative distribution center in Europe," Van Lankvelt says. "That system consists of miles of mechanization, so the stores can get their products as efficiently as possible. The distribution center itself will be one big computer, with almost no human hands involved." For Kanters Elektro, this system presented an additional challenge, he points out. "We were selected based on our extensive and many years of experience with distribution centers, but this is the first time we have worked with this particular system and certainly on this scale. It allows us to fully develop ourselves." Installation work will continue through August 2021.