Week of 19 July
1. Iconic deliveries in The Hague and Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Two new silhouettes have been added to the skyline of The Hague. BESIX Nederland has built and delivered two magnificent residential towers in the centre of The Hague, the Grotius Towers, containing no less than 655 rental flats – of which 20% are devoted to social housing. The 100m and 120m-high towers were built in a dense city environment, on a figurative postage stamp, with very little to no space to move around. Everyone who has worked on Grotius can be proud. A unique project that, thanks to innovative solutions, intensive calculations, smart working methods and an enormous drive, can be seen as an example for future projects of this complexity!
60km further north, another iconic landmark has been delivered last week: the BESIX RED-developed Sluishuis, in Amsterdam. After four years of construction, BESIX Nederland has successfully completed the 49,000 m² impressive residential building with 442 energy-neutral apartments. Its famous double cantilever above the IJ Lake looks even more beautiful than on the artist’s impressions! A warm congratulation to the teams behind this realization.
2. Top performance at the top of Tour Mohammed VI (Morocco)
Last week the installation of the large Building Maintenance Unit was successfully completed at the Tour Mohammed VI in Rabat. This remote controlled unit, suspended from the upper deck of the tower, provides a sophisticated façade access solution. Concretely, it consists of a working platform capable of moving laterally, horizontally and vertically, even on curved surfaces, in order to access every nook and cranny of the façade. The system will be used for scheduled façade maintenance e.g. window washing & external cleaning, and unscheduled maintenance e.g. replacement of glass/façade panels and other repairs.
Congratulations to the team for this delicate operation – which also means that the top of the tower is very, very close! Installation of the last steel beams, closing the top of the tower is expected by the end of the month. Topping-out is in sight!
3. BESIX Award presented to promising engineer from University Leuven (KUL), Belgium
Last week, representatives of top companies, among which BESIX, handed out master's thesis awards to KUL graduates (Belgium) who have written an excellent master's thesis in their company's domain. You can see here the BESIX Award presented by Jean Polet, General Manager Key Projects, to Hana Kato for his thesis on 'Mitigation of railway-induced vibration using seismic metamaterials'. Congrats to all these promising engineers and especially to Hana!
4. Excellent news on Te Kaha Project (New Zealand)
Last week, the design and construct contract for the Te Kaha 25,000 seat covered stadium was officially endorsed by Christchurch City Council! Securing this AUS$563million contract is a massive win for our colleagues at BESIX Watpac. It is the biggest project currently on their books in Australia and will assist in positioning their business as the go-to stadium experts for 2023 and beyond.
Congratulations to the team behind this win. It has been a demanding journey, especially for negotiating cost escalations and complexities of the site and design. To celebrate BESIX Watpac being the leading stadium and venue builder operating in Australia and New Zealand, watch the video below with the SOUND ON!
And then this… Never without my BESIX totebag!
BESIX Middle East has recently issued reusable tote bags to its employees, to assist them kickstart the practice of minimizing single use plastic bags and to address the single use plastic bag ban in the region.
Thanks to our colleague Gurubasu for sharing his picture!
