FIRM FOUNDATION

With the completion of the new cable factory for B.V. Twentsche Kabelfabriek (TKF) on the horizon, De Kok Staalbouw can add another fine calling card to its impressive portfolio. "We were involved at an early project stage by construction consortium VOF Sub Sea to work out a steel structure for the new building in cooperation with the main structural engineer," says project manager Jelle Luijendijk. "Careful coordination with TKF, the building consortium, the machine builder and other stakeholders was essential to achieve a good and functional whole."

The main supporting structure contains about 3,000 tons of steel, while the total structure including secondary steel comes out to about 3,500 tons, Luijendijk says. "The towers of the new building were particularly challenging. After all, our fitters had to be able to safely assemble all the steel at height. Moreover, we had to deal with fairly large spans. For example, in the tallest tower, where large trusses measuring 30 by 8 meters (lxw) and weighing around 30 tons also had to be processed."

The towers will house quite large machines, which placed specific demands on the construction and planning. "To prevent construction from stalling, the large machine parts had to be hoisted in just-in-time by the machine builder. This required careful coordination. Once the roof was closed, hoisting was no longer an option." Very specific finally are the storey floors in the steel structure, which were pre-assembled including hot-dip galvanized steel plates. "In consultation with TKF, we worked out a solution with floor frames of 2.5 by 5 meters," Luijendijk said. "In total, we produced, hot-dip galvanized and assembled 150 floor panels, where, in addition to dimensional stability, getting tension-free was also a challenge."

Following on from the steel structure, De Kok Staalbouw assembled approximately 24,200 m2 of roofing sheets and 14,200 m2 of sandwich facade panels for the new building. Different shades of color and profiling create a subtle wave pattern, giving the new building a special accent.