Trench box system guarantees safety, speed, flexibility and quality

Thus, excavation work is performed with minimal inconvenience to the surrounding area

It is Tuesday afternoon when a shiny Van de Beeten truck arrives at the Van Gelder project site on the Hillegomweg in Arnhem. What also shines is the mobile excavator (type 916 from Liebherr) that is on the project on behalf of Van Gelder. The operator of the mobile excavator is Maarten Schutte, and before he welcomes us to his small but warm construction shack, of course unloading takes place first.

Good consultation beforehand is half the battle.

Although the transport truck is equipped with a crane and stone grab, Maarten prefers to unload himself with his mobile excavator. Then the material is quickly and safely in the right place and the truck can move on quickly. No loss of time, no double work and less inconvenience to local residents. That's what we like to see.

Machinist at heart

Maarten deftly unloads the materials with a swivel tilt equipped with a fork holder. Within 10 minutes, the materials are in place, the truck is gone and Maarten invites us for a cup of coffee in the construction shed. Maarten talks enthusiastically about his career, which started back in 1988 at a contracting firm where he started on the shovel. He then moved on to Van Gelder, where he has now also been working for 27 years. At Van Gelder he ended up on the mobile excavator and he still enjoys it. Maarten loves Infra projects and prefers sewer rehabilitation. "At least with sewer rehabilitation you can see what you have done after a long day's hard work," he says with a laugh.

Although the transport truck is equipped with a crane and stone grab, Maarten prefers to unload himself with his mobile excavator.

When asked about the most beautiful project he was allowed to work on during his career, he immediately named Amersfoort, where van Gelder had to build the bus lane with the necessary infra from the station to the city center. And the renovation of the old industrial estate for the municipality of Elburg, where van Gelder laid all the infra, a rainwater barrier and sewers with pipes from 200 to 400 mm.

The Bottom Box is neatly unloaded.

Work safely and save space

Maarten has worked with Soil BoXes before but is honest enough to say that it is not very often. "If there is enough space to excavate a trench then it works faster without BoXen," he explains. We have to agree with him on that too. "But like here in Arnhem we have to deal with gas and water pipes a short distance away and a drainage system is needed. Then we need the BoXs to work safely and save space," Maarten continues. Then BodemBoX is of course the right party to look together at which BoX suits the project best.

Instruction regarding square tube stamps.

Since the BodemBoX on the project in Arnhem will be in use for some time and will be dug in and out several times, it was advised to work with extendable square tube props. Screw props would in fact have a greater chance of being tapped askew with the bucket of the excavator and thus become unusable. After coffee, we walk out with Maarten to explain how these square tube stamps work. Together we assemble the first stamp and Maarten can get to work safely and quickly. We wish Maarten and Van Gelder good luck on the project and continue on our way, to give advice elsewhere on the application of BodemBox.