440 tons of steel for International School Almere

From steel construction to steel pergola

Tasche Staalbouw produced and assembled the steel structure for the new International School building in Almere. The steel construction company also made a large steel pergola. In total, some 440 tons of steel were used.

The steel construction company worked out the engineering process of the main load-bearing structure in 3D, says project manager Tom Oude Voshaar. "After this was approved, we started producing the steel structure. At the end of January we started the assembly and that has now been completed."

Delivery in phases

The steel was delivered per phase on construction: first the columns, beams and floors of the second floors and then those of the remaining floors. In addition to the 19 loads of steel, two HEB900 floor beams measuring 27.5 meters in length and weighing 12,500 kg each were also used in the project. Oude Voshaar: "Almost all the columns consist of tubes, which created complex connections. All columns were braced on two sides during assembly and filled with concrete. This ensures good fire resistance of the building. We also laid another 6,500 m2 of hollow-core slabs on the four floors. The total lead time for assembly on the project was six weeks."

Complex construction

Phase two of the project was the construction of a large steel pergola. In order to have as few bolts in sight as possible, this pergola was constructed from welded frames. "This made the construction quite complex. The pergola consists of two parts and totals about forty meters. All the roof beams are tubes and these are round-rolled. The whole construction is galvanized and powder coated in RAL7021. It has stainless steel tension wires that greenery can grow against."

For Tasche Steel Construction, this was a medium-sized project. During the assembly period, three mechanics worked simultaneously, with an extra man for the floor work. The cooperation with main contractor Van Norel Bouwgroep was very streamlined, says Oude Voshaar. "We work together a lot and are regular partners so we know what we can do with each other. Communication is always good and in execution the lines are short."