Week of 19 September
1. Zero emission crawler crane on project A16 (Netherlands)
Impressive world première on the site of the A16 in Rotterdam: supported by our Client, the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management, we have tested an electric mastodont on the A16 highway project. As you can see on below pictures, it is a 100% electric telescopic crawler crane, with a load capacity up to 50 tonnes, and a hook height towering up to 43 meters. During our tests, the crawler crane has worked during no less than 10 hours, unplugged! Such an autonomy on a heavy equipment is a world première, encouraging us to further invest in the electrification of our fleet. Gradually replacing thermic equipment by electric one in our fleet will seriously decrease our consumption of fossil fuel and our carbon emissions. Stay tuned…. We’ll come back on this topic shortly!
2. A new railway bridge, made of off-site built arches (Brussels)
Works on the future Regional Express Network are progressing well in Watermael-Boitsfort (Brussels). The railway bridge on the ‘Rue de l’Elan’ is undergoing a major renovation by Infrabel, the railway infrastructure manager, with the aim of upgrading the surface infrastructure from 2 to 4 tracks.
Our colleagues from Socogetra Group are working full speed ahead on this project. Their most recent intervention consisted of rebuilding the arch bridge under a bridge slab that supports the railway, after demolishing the old brick bridge. Our colleagues started by making the half-arches in their workshop, with bricks laid in the bottom of the formwork and concreting 20 cm of reinforced concrete for the supporting part. Then, they reconstituted the complete vault on site by assembling the half-arches (each piece weighs 8 tons!). Finally, the new vault was pushed under the bridge slab. Congratulations for this great technical exercise!
3. The falcon wings are spreading (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Regular progress is being made on the iconic Zayed National Museum. Designed by Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster, of Foster + Partners, the narrow glass atriums rising from the Museum building evoke the wing tips of the falcon, a national symbol and emblem of UAE heritage. A beautiful building, requiring all of BESIX’s expertise!
All three main poles are ploughing on: at museum level, all 5 wings steel structure are rising up, reaching tier 2 (out of 3); at mound level, the precast elements are starting to be placed for the walkway structure; and at garden level, the infrastructure works are progressing along the coastal area. The next steps are focused on starting the Glass Reinforced Concrete cladding of the pods (to start by end of October); finishing the steel structure of wing 5 (by the end of the year); and casting the final concrete of the conical wall over the main lobby (by 1st quarter of 2023). Good luck, teams!
4. Progress on the Poti Container Terminal site (Georgia)
In the port of Poti (Georgia), we are currently proceeding with the reconstruction of the existing breakwater. As you can see below, our colleagues are just finishing the installation of Xblocs on the roundhead. Lately, the teams enjoyed some splendid weather, with blue skies and plenty of sun. The perfect moment for some fantastic pictures for us to enjoy, like the ones below!
And then this... Family time (Belgium)!
September is traditionally a moment when teams gather for a relaxing time with colleagues and family members, away from work. Our colleagues from BESIX Infra and BESIX Unitec went recently to PlopsaCoo, our colleagues from Socogetra went to the Domain of the Caves of Han and our colleagues from BESIX went to Walibi last weekend. A well-deserved break to say thank you for the commitment to our company and to build up stamina for the last quarter of the year!
