Week of 7 March
1. The International Women’s Day (Global)
Tuesday 8 March was International Women's Day, a global event aimed at promoting women's rights and in particular at reducing the inequalities to which they are subjected throughout the world. BESIX Group takes this opportunity to remind everyone that the well-being and respect for the rights of all our employees are essential, regardless of their gender, as are their origins, their philosophical or religious convictions, their age...
International Women's Day was also an opportunity to highlight the growing number of women working for our group. We did this via social networks, with four of our colleagues, active on four different continents. Check out their stories below, as well as BESIX Watpac's Break The Bias campaign.
2. The ever more impressive shipping channel (Poland)
Our work on the Vistula Spit shipping channel in Poland is progressing well and on schedule, and the pictures of the site are as impressive as ever.
- On the Baltic side, our team is working on the eastern breakwater, profiling the rock slope, placing the Xblocks and casting the slabs.
- On the western breakwater, our colleagues are casting the blinding concrete for the slag at the roundhead of the infrastructure.
- In the shipping channel, the testing and commissioning of the lock gates is underway and the excavation of the southern channel is continuing.
- Finally, in the Vistula lagoon, dredging work is underway, as well as the rock protection work for the artificial island, which will be dedicated to wildlife.
The shipping channel, located on the western part of the Vistula Spit, will reduce the distance between the port of Elblag and the Baltic Sea, as ships currently have to make a lengthy diversions through the Baltiysk Strait at the eastern end of the Vistula Spit, which is located in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia.
3. A temporary bridge for pedestrians and cyclists (Belgium)
On the Ghent-Ostend canal, in Oostkamp, BESIX is renovating the Moerbrug bascule bridge. Our team has two months to do this, a demanding challenge! However, during these two months of work, it is essential that pedestrians and cyclists can still cross the canal. That is why our colleagues installed a temporary bridge, 37 metres long and weighing 32 tonnes, including pillars. The installation operation took our colleagues 4 hours! A great success that bodes well for the next stage of the project. The whole operation can be seen via this video.
4. Augmented reality on site (UAE)
At the waste-to-energy plant, our colleagues tested the augmented reality solution developed by GenieVision. This solution allows the work already carried out to be compared on site with the BIM model via a tablet. This is the principle of augmented reality: in this case, it allows the 3D model to be visualised by superimposing it on the real site, in real conditions. This video, published by GenieVision, will give you a better idea of how this app works. The test that our colleagues carried out focused on a specific part of the MEP. Positive lessons were learnt, in particular the ability to ensure that what we are building matches the latest 3D models, and the ability to report issues to the BIM team to update the model or to check the impact of an issue on other services. Future tests, on this or other sites, will have to be carried out with the latest iPad pro, in particular to gain precision in large spaces. However, the experience is positive and is a good example of new digital technologies at the service of our teams. To be continued!
And then this... Prestigious award for wooden bicycle bridge (Belgium)
The ‘Fietsen door de Heide’ (Cycling through the Heathland) infrastructure, built by BESIX, has won the prestigious International Design Award in the United States, in the category Architecture for “Arches, bridges, viaducts and gateways”. Located in the province of Limburg, this 294-metre long wooden cycle bridge crosses the Hoge Kempen National Park, with a panoramic view. The design is by Witteveen+Bos. Congratulations to our BESIX colleagues who built it!
