Major foundation repair in the 'Old North'

In Rotterdam, many pre-war homes suffer from poor foundations. As the groundwater level drops, the pile foundations are plagued by wood rot. Housing corporation Stichting Woonstad Rotterdam is going to tackle these foundation problems in the 'Old North' and has called in Brefu Funderingstechnieken and others to do so. Thanks to a unique methodology, the residents do not have to leave their homes during the large-scale foundation repair.

Brefu Funderingstechnieken is a total foundation repair contractor. "We provide the complete package from the conversation at the kitchen table and the engineering to the actual execution and delivery," says director-owner Marco Poppelaars. "In this case, Woonstad Rotterdam did some of the engineering itself and together with Jurriëns we form a construction team. We do the foundation repair, they do the finishing. We are replacing the existing pile foundation for a concrete foundation with internally driven tubular piles. The project is divided into five subprojects of about ten stately homes each in the characteristic 'Old North'."

Forming an internally driven tube pile is a low-vibration technique, according to Poppelaars. "We have all the piling and drilling techniques in-house and also provide the bracing, the concrete pour and any demolition work necessary for foundation repair. In many cases, only the first floor needs to be temporarily evacuated. As of the second floor, all homes remain inhabited and that actually goes very smoothly. We are currently also working for other clients in Rotterdam, all together at about fourteen locations. This makes us one of the larger foundation repair companies in the Maasstad."