Week of 17 July
1. BESIX Master’s Thesis Award 2022-2023 (Belgium)
On 7 July, representatives of top companies in Belgium, among which BESIX, handed out master's thesis awards to graduates from Leuven University who have written an excellent thesis in these companies’ sectors. The BESIX Award was presented by Jean Polet, General Manager Key Projects, to Silke Creytens for her thesis on ‘Static soil-structure interaction for high-rise buildings’.
Hans Verbraken, Project Manager, Engineering & Methods and Silke’s thesis supervisor at BESIX: ‘Silke did a very good job of outlining existing methods and using them to develop a new tool. This thesis is not just a culmination of Silke’s academic journey but an opportunity for her to contribute new knowledge to our field and we thank and commend her for that’.
Congrats to all these promising engineers and especially to Silke!
2. Major milestone for the Pallas reactor site in Petten (The Netherlands)
Our Dutch colleagues have reasons to celebrate. They have just poured the last diaphragm wall for the new medical isotopes Pallas reactor project in Petten. This is the first phase of the realisation of the construction pit.
Work on the diaphragm walls started on 3 May, when the first concrete was poured. To build the walls, 1.5-metre-wide and 34-metre-long trenches were dug into which 11,000 m3 of concrete was poured.
Congratulations to Franki Foundations, Franki Grondtechnieken and BESIX NL for this major milestone!
Don’t miss the article on this project in the latest issue of our INSIDE magazine!
In this article of NH Nieuws (in Dutch), you can see other images of the site.
3. Zayed City Schools launches a Summer Beat the Heat campaign (UAE)
The Zayed City Schools team recently implemented the Summer Beat the Heat campaign, prioritising the welfare and safety of our workers considering rising temperatures and humidity levels in the Gulf region. The campaign's primary focus is to raise awareness among our workers about the potential risks associated with heat exposure, by informing them, but also by supporting proper hydration. Reusable water gallon bottles were provided to all workers. Additionally, we supplied them with electrolyte replacements to ensure their hydration needs were met.
Work at all BESIX sites is halted during the hottest hours of the day, enabling physically demanding tasks to be carried out during cooler periods like early mornings or evenings.
Our sincere appreciation to all those involved in the planning and execution of the campaign, as well as to our dedicated and hardworking workers in these warm conditions.
4. Unusual internship at COTU (Belgium)
Every summer, VOKA (federation that represents the interests of businesses in Flanders), organises get-together meetings between politicians and businesses. This summer, Annick De Ridder, Antwerp city councilor and alderman for the Antwerp-Bruges port, visited the COTU project on 17 July, in Zeebrugge. During her visit led byProject Manager Dieter Van Parys, she was very impressed with the progress of the works in the construction pit in.
The COTU team is building the 8 tunnel elements for the Schelde tunnel, which will link the left to the right bank of the river, in the framework of the Oosterweel project. Once ready, these 160 metre-long, 40-metre-wide and 10-meter-high segments will be towed over the North Sea and the West-Schelde river to Antwerp.
In this article in GVA (in Dutch), you can see an interview with colleague Dieter Van Parys and the councillor.
And then this… BESIX team running against hunger
On 1 July, a team from BESIX participated in the Hunger Race to collect funds for projects of the non-profit organisation Humundi (previously SOS Faim) in Africa and South America, which takes place every year in the Ardennes Forest and involves teams of 3 to 6 persons for hiking, kayaking, and death-rides.
