Earthwork at En Bloc going according to plan

This, and much more work, was carried out by Van Daalen BV Aannemersbedrijf GWW. This company works in the ground, road and hydraulic engineering sector and has been in existence for more than ninety years. In January, the family business was taken over by brothers Ronnie and Wesley van Daalen. With them, the third generation is now at the helm.

ERA Contour has been one of Van Daalen's largest clients for more than 45 years. Once again, the two companies worked together on the En Bloc project in Amsterdam. It was up to Van Daalen to level out the ground level, dig excavation trenches for the installation of the sheet piling and set up the construction site with industrial floor slabs, mixed granulate and driving plates. The work also included excavating and keeping the construction pit dry. "Due to contamination present in the soil, most of the earthwork was carried out under environmental supervision. We also provided the environmental supervision for the piling work. We did this in cooperation with Ster Projects," says Ronnie van Daalen.

On schedule

Because proper and extensive consultation took place in advance with ERA Contour, the municipality of Amsterdam, Ster Projects and Van Daalen as the groundwork contractor, everything could be carried out on schedule. An important point made by the municipality was that no pollution should be driven onto the public road by the trucks removing the soil. For this reason, Van Daalen had a water spray bridge made, over which the trucks had to drive before leaving the construction site and on which the tires were sprayed clean. 

Fine project

After excavating the piers, foundation beams and leveling out the sand package, ERA Contour was able to start installing the foundation. After ERA Contour installed the ground floor, Van Daalen backfilled the foundation and walls to the existing ground level. "This pretty much completed the project for us," Van Daalen continued. "After delivering the project to the residents, we still cleaned up and removed the construction site. It was a fine project for us because the cooperation with ERA Contour is already so old. We know exactly what we have in common. Everything therefore went according to plan."