Court pool tower opts for scaffoldless construction method

In the Ypenburg district of The Hague, construction is underway on a new residential tower, the 70-meter-high Hofbadtoren. WEBO of Rijssen is responsible for the development and installation of the facade elements. The innovative family company's credo is 'Inventors in the Carpentry Industry'. The facade elements are therefore realized in accordance with its own innovative concept: Scaffoldless® Construction.

Text | Suzanne van Gaale    Image | Laurens Kuipers

Building a 70-meter-high residential tower without using scaffolding is not an everyday practice. Wilko Wormgoor, project manager at WEBO, is well aware of this. "We are the only party that can build to this height without scaffolding. The 70 meters is therefore certainly a nice challenge for us." Construction of the Hofbad Tower began a year ago, in September 2019. The residential tower includes 162 social rental apartments in various price ranges and housing types. As a U-shaped building block, it connects seamlessly to the existing Hofbad in the Ypenburg neighborhood. Together with the Couperus tower, the Hofbadtoren will soon form the Poort van Ypenburg.

At high altitude: benefits and challenges

Challenges such as the construction of the Hofbadtoren are no stranger to the Rijssen family business. WEBO puts industrialization and innovation in construction first. Thanks to Scaffoldless® Construction, scaffolding and many other building materials become unnecessary. "Building with our unique Scaffoldless® facade elements has many advantages. Just think of the minimal inconvenience on the construction site and for the surroundings. Especially in an inner-city environment a must." The use of prefabricated HSB elements also allows rapid construction. Wormgoor: "The Steigerloos® facade element of the Hofbadtoren is a total product: each element is a prefabricated HSB element that we provide with durable cladding and window frames in our factory. At the construction site in The Hague, the elements only need to be lifted into place by crane. A total of almost six hundred facade elements are involved. In principle, we can install eight elements in one day, which means one floor per week. If everything goes according to plan, the Hofbadtoren will be completed in mid-2021."

Small work of art

Looking closely at the facades of the Hofbad Tower, one notices that all the seams are visible. A deliberate choice by architect Oever and Zaaijer, according to Wormgoor. "This is an aesthetic choice by the architect. For example, the white frames around the window frames are also deliberately placed slightly forward. Before we proceed to production, we always make a mock-up of a complete facade element. This gives a good and realistic picture of, among other things, the pattern, color and size of the bricks. We can do it exactly the way the architect or client wants it. In fact, every facade element is a small work of art." WEBO's Scaffoldless® facade elements have fire class B. This means that the burning through of the wood is inhibited, making it extremely controllable and safe compared to other materials.

BIM

WEBO has been closely involved in the project from the beginning. Wormgoor: "The entire engineering process takes place in BIM. We have more than ten years of experience with this. Our modelers do not turn their hand to large works such as the Hofbadtoren. Thanks to BIM, we avoid failure costs and we bundle and manage all information in one digital building model. This allows all parties involved, from contractor and client to architect, to work together efficiently and clearly, and everyone is always up to date on all developments."