Undulating facades for sustainable apartment complex

In Amsterdam Sloterdijk, the sustainable eye-catcher Floating Gardens with its modern new-build apartments has just left the scaffolding. For the ceiling, facade and flashing work, construction company De Nijs called in family company Welmecon from Ens. Planner Robin Dekker explains what made the project so special.

Welmecon has specialized in metal roof and facade systems since 1992. Dekker explains, "My father was the founder and now my brother-in-law and I work in the company." The fact that it is a family business is well reflected in Welmecon's communication. "Personal and warm contact is extremely important to us. It doesn't have to be too businesslike for us. That's how we build a good relationship with our customers."

The more challenging, the better

At Floating Gardens, Welmecon was primarily involved with the ceilings and the facade and flashing work. "This project was a really fun challenge for us," says Dekker. "The architect chose two different types of corrugated sheets for the facades and that all had to be measured out very precisely." The aluminum composite ceilings also had an interesting challenge: they had to be mounted at exactly the right height. "Parts of the ceiling slope away, which can also be tricky. And the aluminum flashing for the exterior facade was delivered and assembled entirely to size. For all parts, we had to do a lot of drawing, calculating and measuring." That customization is exactly what made it a fun challenge for the men from Welmecon. "And the more challenging, the better for us. Our mechanics always say: easy is also just boring." 

Produce and deliver in-house 

"Metal Cladding Systems (MCS) - whom we know well - was the supplier, with the architect choosing the corrugated cladding. We have been working with MCS for years. So both the supplier and the client were already acquaintances of ours," says Dekker. An additional advantage of a specialist company like Welmecon is that it has a lot of expertise in-house. "Because we also provide some of the transport to the construction site ourselves, we can deliver materials on time in coordination with the fitters and clients. As a result, assembly can take place immediately afterwards and you need less storage on the construction site itself."

Floating Gardens is a project the men of Welmecon are proud of. "We have really created something beautiful. The view alone: you don't see those wave forms much in the Netherlands. Very special."