A total of 133 cutouts for facade, interior wall, floor and stairwell

When the construction consortium of BESIX and J.P van Eesteren was commissioned by property developer Provast to build the two immense residential towers Grotius I and II, it came to Heuvelstaal Formworks. This specialist first took care of the thinking and calculations, followed by the production of all window and door openings for façade and inner wall, as well as the floor and stairwell openings. A total of 133 elements were involved.

Oss-based Heuvelstaal Bekistingen specializes in the development and production of custom concrete formwork and molds that contractors can easily deploy on the construction site without the need for time-consuming tools. "We have a strong reputation among contractors when it comes to the design, calculation, development and production of concrete formwork and molds in steel. So we were also contacted by the construction consortium at an early stage, to support the realization of both residential towers in the heart of The Hague," says general manager Bas Tims. "We first went through the entire project with the contractors and defined the various dimensions. Then we did a lot of thinking and calculations, from which a concept proposal emerged that was then further developed by our people into a final product."

20,000 parts

After calculation and engineering, Heuvelstaal was also commissioned to produce the various elements and deliver them to the construction site in consultation with the superintendents. "We ended up making 40 facade recesses, 19 interior wall recesses, 9 floor recesses and 5 stairwell recesses for the first residential tower. For the second high-rise, these were 33 façade recesses, 14 interior wall recesses, 8 floor recesses and 5 stairwell recesses, respectively. That brings the total to 133 recesses and a total of more that 20,000 different parts, which are then assembled into stiles and sills," the general manager continued. "Each recess was assembled in our production as a unique kit with its own drawing and thus delivered to the construction site, which reduced the risk of errors in execution to an absolute minimum. We may not have been active on the construction site ourselves, but we delivered all formwork in close consultation with the contractors and assisted the superintendents with the necessary advice."