Peters & Van Leeuwen to continue as Pelecon

Engineering firm Peters & Van Leeuwen. Although this is a reputable name for miles around, the name had actually been outdated for some time. Mr. Van Leeuwen made way for Henk van Vliet several years ago, and as of Jan. 1 of this year, Piet Peters also stepped down. Mack Stolwijk is taking his place. A good time to refresh the company; time for a new name and a new corporate identity. Peters & Van Leeuwen will continue as Pelecon structural engineers.

The changes in the company are necessary to keep up with the lightning-fast developments in the market. "With Mack joining the management, new, fresh and young blood is coming in," summarizes Piet Peters. "Mack is 32 and speaks the language of both our young employees and our customers. The developments in our field are going so incredibly fast. It is enormously important that we keep up with that and that we continue to understand our customers and employees. Different competencies are needed than in the past. Back then everything went through tenders. That is changing. Now we work together much more in teams. We join these teams and give input in the construction field. It's much more about the longer-term relationship now.''

Sustainable construction with steel and concrete

Sustainable construction is one of the most important pillars for the structural engineers. "We make large distribution centers that require a lot of steel and concrete," Henk van Vliet explains. "In order to still work as sustainably as possible, we do a lot of research into alternatives. Our job is to translate our clients' wishes into a concrete and steel construction. In doing so, we try to provide sustainable advice as much as possible.''

Rhenus in Tilburg

A great example is the most sustainable commercial building in the Netherlands: Rhenus in Tilburg. "We designed the structure for the developer Dokvast," Mack Stolwijk proudly tells us. "On the roof of Rhenus are as many as 16,800 solar panels. The building is completely gasless and generates so much energy that it can heat 350 homes in the region. That building is an example that we also want to show to other companies. That's how it can be done.''

Bol.com distribution center to become 33 soccer fields in size

Another major project Pelecon is currently working on is the new bol.com distribution center in Waalwijk. "We also designed the construction for that," Stolwijk continues. "In the coming year, they will be expanding their premises. They will grow from about 65,000 to 165,000 square meters of floor space. That's a whopping 33 soccer fields in area. The property also includes a high-rise section, with an internal height of 32 meters. They would like to expand to keep up with the growth of Internet purchases. When the new section is also ready, bol.com will be able to store more than 7.5 million items. It should be operational in 2021. For us, it's a great example to show what we can do in terms of large structures.''

Pelecon structural engineers

Station Square 9F

2801 AK Gouda

www.pelecon.nl