Platform on new construction, renovation, restoration and transformation
For TBV Wonen and construction company KnaapenGroep, this intervention has not only a technical, but above all an emotional side. A great deal of attention is therefore paid to the residents.
"We are improving and making De Grote Eik more sustainable on the outside and inside," says project manager Coen Knaapen of KnaapenGroep. "On the outside we are installing facade insulation, we are doing painting work and we are improving the window frames, windows and doors. The homes will have new kitchens, bathrooms and toilets. We are also replacing the collective heating system for individual connections and renewing the down pipes, water pipes, sewers and mechanical ventilation. Furthermore, all apartments are going off the gas." The common areas are also undergoing refurbishment, including new elevators and painting.
"Major maintenance is twenty percent technology and eighty percent emotion," Knaapen emphasizes. "With this in mind, we pay a lot of attention to resident guidance and communication on every project. From the planning phase onward, we take the residents along step by step in the preparation and execution process. This was also the case in De Grote Eik, which also has many elderly residents for whom a maintenance project is even more radical. Initially we discussed the plans with the De Grote Eik sounding board group, which had been set up for the project. We also invited the sounding board group members to an earlier major maintenance project of ours in Eindhoven. There the residents told us how they experienced the project."
KnaapenGroup collected 100 percent support in De Grote Eik for carrying out the work. "We first informed the residents through a brochure and a general meeting," Knaapen says. "Then we held beach meetings. We carried out the work in eight strangen of 12 homes. For each strang, we invited the residents to the model home. There they could see what was going to happen in their homes. We also told them what they could expect from the work." The strangen meeting was followed by the technical recording by the contractor. Two weeks before the start of the work, the resident's supervisor visited the residents to go over everything again at their leisure.
On March 24, 2020, operations began. The corona virus, and the measures resulting from it, immediately threw a spanner in the works. The schedule, which assumed fifteen working days per residence, had to be rescheduled. Knaapen: "The first five weeks we only worked in the corridors and storerooms. In May, we started working on the outside. Every day we started up two apartments, where we tackled the paintwork and the frames, windows and doors for each apartment in four working days. After a few weeks, we also started work on the inside, for which we needed 15 working days per apartment." To carry out the work without contact, KnaapenGroep set up a number of empty apartments and sixteen tiny houses where residents could stay during the day. Camping site Little Oak was also established.
At the end of November, KnaapenGroup completed the last home. Completion of the project will take place at the end of this year. "A challenging job in a turbulent time," Knaapen looks back. "But the end result is beautiful and the residents are happy. Together with TBV Wonen, we have laid a nice foundation for subsequent maintenance projects."
Construction Info
Client
TBV Wonen, Tilburg
Contractor
KnaapenGroup, Son
