65 tons of rebar

Concrete wickerwork Lions enclosure

Nota Betonvlechtwerken supplied and processed the concrete rebar for the new Lions enclosure at ARTIS. In about four months, a total of 65 tons of rebar was processed.

Nota Betonvlechtwerken is a cutting and bending plant. The company works partly for the precast concrete industry and also has thirty concrete braiders working on construction projects. "We work on homes, basements, overpasses and wind turbines, among other things. In short: in utility construction and civil engineering," says Taco Nota, director and owner of the company. "We buy coils of material and cut and bend the reinforcement ourselves. Other companies often buy the rebar cut and bent and have it braided by freelancers. We do all that ourselves."

Just-in-time

Nota Betonvlechtwerken was involved in the project at ARTIS by Anton Construction and Concrete. The two companies do often work together: Nota braids the reinforcement and Anton pours the concrete in. The reinforcement is in the Lion's Den in the floors, walls, rockeries and visitor deck. "This was a medium-sized project for us, but challenging. Especially because of the location: in the middle of a zoo. Of course you have to take that into account with the supply and removal of materials. Space was limited, so we delivered just-in-time in the morning, when ARTIS was not yet open to visitors. This way our material was in before people arrived and there was no inconvenience. This required a lot of communication and coordination with the work planners and construction management, but the collaboration went smoothly. We found it a fun and beautiful project; of course, we don't work in a zoo every week."

Besides the unusual location, the work itself was also not standard. Notes, "Rock sections we don't usually encounter, so that made it not an everyday work."