Retaining walls invisible and indispensable basis for quays, dikes and wegn

Retaining walls seem like a fairly standard product, but appearances can be deceiving. Behind these often invisible elements along roads, dikes and quays lies a lot of thinking and innovation. Bosch Beton plays an important role in this. Lennart van de Loenhorst, team coordinator Infra at Bosch Beton, explains two special projects in which customization and sustainability play an important role.

“Retaining walls are very versatile,” begins Van de Loenhorst. “They are used in a variety of situations, from special trench silo walls for the agricultural sector and noise barriers along highways to site fences and water and sea retaining structures.” The many types of retaining walls are developed and produced in-house from the modern factory in Barneveld.

Quirky look

Sustainability is a common thread within the family business. Bosch Beton works with environmentally friendly concrete mixes, reusable materials and energy-efficient production processes. All products carry a CO2 label - ranging from class A++ to G - so that customers can see the environmental impact at a glance. But the ambition goes beyond just making existing products more sustainable. The ultimate goal is to realize a cement-free generation of retaining walls. Van de Loenhorst puts it as follows: “We strive to make a product that is better than the customer envisions with as little material as possible. That is typical Bosch Beton: we always look at a job with an idiosyncratic eye.”

Rijnkade Arnhem

This sustainable vision and idiosyncratic outlook also translates into the projects in which Bosch Beton is involved. Van de Loenhorst mentions two special examples: the strengthening of the Rijnkade in Arnhem and the renovation of the Middenboulevard in Scheveningen. The project in Arnhem stands out because of its almost completely emission-free working method. Its location in the middle of the city made implementation extra challenging. “For the more than one kilometer long Rijnkade, we produced, delivered and assembled more than 400 precast elements. We deliberately chose prefab construction to be able to work quickly and efficiently with minimal disruption to the surrounding area. All elements were produced in our own factory in Barneveld and transported from there by electric truck to Arnhem.”

Scheveningen Central Boulevard

In Scheveningen, the challenge was mainly technical and constructional. There, Bosch Beton collaborated on the renewal of the 120-year-old quay wall along the Central Boulevard. The basic design was already established, but the translation into a feasible design required specialist knowledge and precision. “You can think up everything so well on paper, but the trick is to make it realizable in practice. In a year and a half we produced about 400 different retaining walls, varying in shape and weight. The heaviest wall weighed as much as 26.6 tons. We developed fourteen new formwork systems for this project. To ensure that all the different types of walls matched exactly, we chose steel boxes that are more dimensionally stable and have minimal tolerances.”

An intensive development and production process preceded the retaining walls in both projects. Van de Loenhorst: “Once installed, they remain invisible, but form the indispensable constructive basis of a project. That's the beauty of our work!”