Wide slab floors on demand

For the extensive HIGH5 project in Haarlem, where five towers are being realized with a total of 569 apartments, De Hoop Pekso is supplying all wide slab floors. The first phase of three towers, accounting for more than 30,000 m² of floor space, is currently under construction. Every two or three weeks, a new floor goes into the air, and therefore also the necessary wide slab floors, which means that engineering, production and logistics have to fit together tightly.

The production of wide slab floors is not a standard process: each floor is unique and has its own specific shapes, loads and reinforcement, emphasizes Carlo Molenaar, area manager at De Hoop Pekso. “Based on the final design, an installation plan is made for each floor. Our engineers model and calculate each floor field individually, with factors such as line loads, balconies, second load path and installation penetrations all playing a role. Some floors require two days of engineering, others a full week. Copy and paste simply does not exist in our work.”

Traceability

According to Molenaar, HIGH5 is a project where complexity, scale and accuracy come together. “It is a project in which our expertise as a regular wide slab supplier for main contractor HBB Group comes into full play,” he says. “The wide slab floors are supplied with reinforcement, lattice girders, bars and necessary pouring facilities, such as center boxes and connectors for mechanical ventilation, in a fully automated carousel system. During and after pouring, photographs are taken in our factory so that each slab remains fully traceable. After a short curing process on the bag field, the elements are transported to the construction site, after which they are processed directly from the truck.”

Substantiated price

What sets De Hoop Pekso apart is the level of involvement throughout the process. “That starts as early as the quotation,” says Molenaar. “Where some settle for rough estimates, we base our price on thorough calculations so that the contractor receives a realistic and substantiated price. Furthermore, our engineers actively think along with us, perform three rounds of checks and identify deviations. It results in significantly fewer failure costs and a smooth construction process.” 

As a family business with headquarters in Terneuzen and a CSC Gold-certified production site, De Hoop Pekso works as sustainably as possible: hardly any gas consumption, many solar panels and an optimized production process. “Through precision, craftsmanship and close cooperation, we ensure that the wide slab floors in this metropolitan project go up smoothly and safely,” Molenaar concludes.