'As few supports as possible in construction of precast concrete airframe'

For the expansion of Nature's Pride in Maasdijk, Holcon BV was responsible for the engineering, production, delivery and assembly of the concrete shell. As a construction team partner of De Vries en Verburg, the precast concrete specialist contributed to an efficient main bearing structure, consisting of precast concrete columns, beams and walls. 

"With De Vries en Verburg, we have built a long-term relationship on a variety of projects," explains Holcon project manager Bas van Oosterhout. "We also worked together on the new construction of Nature's Pride in 2013. An important optimization we took away from that work is that we wanted to build as much support-free as possible. In collaboration with structural consultant Kaskon, we modified the structure so that as few supports as possible were needed during construction. The crux was mainly in the positioning of the floors on the beams."

174 trucks carrying concrete

At its own production site in Germany, Holcon produced the 138 precast concrete beams, 141 columns and 53 walls for Nature's Pride. Van Oosterhout: "The weight of the beams ranges from 3,100 to 50,000 kilograms. The walls range from 700 to 3,000 kilograms. In total, we produced and delivered 2,000 cubic meters of concrete, spread over 174 trucks." In December 2020, after only 26 weeks of engineering and production, the first elements left the plant. The large elements were transported to the Dutch border under police escort. This required thorough planning and preparation. "On site, our regular partner Mammoet Betonmontage assembled all the elements," says Van Oosterhout. "Last March, we delivered the concrete shell. In the middle of corona time, with the accompanying measures, we delivered a fine team performance with all parties involved."