Platform on new construction, renovation, restoration and transformation
SMART FACADE INNOVATIONS AT HESSENBERGWEG
On Hessenbergweg in Amsterdam, work is underway on an unusual building that brings together four clients, multiple housing types, an office building and a supermarket. Heddes Bouw & Ontwikkeling took on both the technical development and execution. Project manager Paul Bos and plan developer Dennis Kodde-van Eck explain how they shaped this multifaceted project from the tender to the building site.
The tender took place in the summer of 2021. Heddes won in competition, partly on price and lead time. According to Kodde-van Eck, now a plan developer for nine years, it was an intensive process. “We were approached by the developer GreenTree Properties and gradually the final buyers came into the picture. Then you start making technical, legal and financial agreements together to serve all parties well.” Contracts could be signed in early 2024, after which the realization team got to work. Bos, a project manager at Heddes for 18 years, saw the project really take off in early 2024. “In March 2024, we could start the demolition work. From then on, the real work began.”
The tower will be Heddes“ tallest building to date. The complex will combine social housing, medium rental, private sector rental, offices and a supermarket. This requires precision. Bos: ”The difference in level between the housing types is huge. Some apartments are finished down to the floor covering, while the social rental apartments are delivered as shells. That requires extra coordination in execution." There is also a parking basement under the building that connects all the towers.
The project has different facade systems. For the high-rise, Heddes developed a new ceramic stone strip facade in support profiles, i.e. not glued, together with the supplier. Bos: “That product did not yet exist in this form. A lot of time, engineering and testing went into that project. Eventually, we got the certifications for fire safety, strength and impact resistance, among other things, and we are now actually installing these stone strips. It was exciting, but it works extremely well.” One of the other facades was also designed in a unique way. There, in fact, a real masonry robot went to work. Bos and Kodde-van Eck explain enthusiastically, “That involved traditional masonry, but with a lot of variation in shapes and patterns. With the masonry robot we manage, we created a setup. From a specially developed scaffold, the robot was able to brick the pattern. We even made the national news with that.”
Another challenge was the tight construction site, surrounded by roads and neighbors. “As a result, we had to be creative in creating entrances to the construction site,” Bos explains. The two tower cranes also had limited space. “They were close together. Therefore, we placed one crane on the second floor, instead of on the foundation in the basement. It was still tight to lift things, but it worked out that way.” In the end, construction is running very nicely on schedule, Kodde-van Eck emphasizes. “Sometimes we are even ahead of schedule. That makes our team and Heddes proud.”
