Asbestos remediation and demolition for renovation of apartment building in Utrecht

Housing corporation Portaal has a complex with 174 homes on Nigerdreef, located in the Overvecht district of Utrecht. This apartment building has 10 floors and dates from the 1960s. Because the dwellings no longer meet today's requirements, a large-scale renovation and sustainability project was started. The old kitchens, bathrooms and toilets will be replaced and the homes will be made energy efficient. In addition, the common areas are undergoing a contemporary metamorphosis. Vlasman is acting as co-maker to main contractor BAM and is responsible for the asbestos removal and demolition of the building components to be replaced. 

Vlasman's asbestos remediation team is divided into an exterior crew and interior crew. The indoor crew focuses on asbestos-containing applications in the meter cupboard and in the bathroom, kitchen and toilet. These include tile adhesive (5,300 m2), sealant, window sills (52), sheet material (110 sheets) and bitumen floor tarps (430 m2). Depending on the contamination found during the preliminary inventory, it starts work in the homes. On average, the remediation of a home takes two days, and for that period a guest house is available for the residents. The other crew works from outside. It uses lifting scaffolding to take out the windows and then remove the asbestos-containing glazing sealant (22,000 m). 

Once the homes are released, the asbestos remediation team makes way for fellow demolition workers. They will remove the kitchen unit, bathroom floor and plumbing fixtures and, where necessary, cut holes and slots for the build-up. Meanwhile, outside, the gable panels of the side wall are being sawed off and lifted away. Given the height of the apartment building, Vlasman is deploying a 35-meter telescopic crane and scissor lift for this purpose. The old elevators are also being demolished, as are the porch and the stairs at the entrance. 

The 174 homes are divided into six porches. All work begins on the top floor and is then carried out per porch, in vertical columns downwards. In this process, coordination between the various co-makers is very important, as the work must be precisely coordinated. The time pressure is high, due to the inhabited state of the apartment building, and the planning is tight. Only one construction elevator is available for the removal of materials. Vlasman is coordinating this process, with the glass and window frames destined for reuse and the rest disposed of in separate waste streams. Work began in March 2021 and is expected to take a year.   

Asbestos remediation and demolition for renovation of apartment building in Utrecht 

- Comprehensive interior and exterior asbestos remediation
- Demolition BKT, façade panels, elevators and common areas
- High-rise construction: deployment of lifting scaffold, telescopic crane and scissor work platform
- Renovation in inhabited state, under time pressure 
- Coordination waste streams: 250 tons of rubble, 150 tons of glass, 50 tons of asbestos 
- Intensive cooperation with other co-makers