Aesthetic concrete sheet piles eliminate use of hardwood

Friesland, with its pristine nature and beautiful lakes, is beloved by water sports enthusiasts. With an area one-third water, the province enjoys fame for its many lakes and waterways in the open landscape. Recreatieschap Marrekrite ensures that we can enjoy all this beauty for a very long time to come. To that end, Marrekrite maintains some 35 kilometers of free moorings in the middle of nature. Good for 3,500 ships that can moor at approximately 300 locations. Completely free of charge, for a period of three days.

Marrekrite constructs new mooring facilities and maintains existing ones. This includes sheet pile walls, jetties and 'MarBoeien'. In order to preserve these beautiful moorings for the future and contribute to sustainability, Marrekrite said goodbye to hardwood as a material for sheet pile walls years ago. By using concrete, the lifespan of the moorings is also extended, from 25 years to 50 to 75 years. So sustainable in more ways than one. Betonfabriek Nigtevecht is the supplier of the concrete, which is supplied in a subtle anthracite color.

Concrete sheet piles.

Concrete as a sustainable building material

Concrete Factory Nigtevecht has built up great expertise in solutions for protecting banks and embankments. "Bank and embankment structures need to be protected against leaching and instability," said Betonfabriek Nigtevecht. "This requires efficient, effective soil retaining solutions with a long service life." Effective means for shipping, recreational boating, water management and infrastructure, among others. Effective means: there must be a good structural and economical, maintenance-free solution. The long service life is achieved by using fully circular materials with low environmental impact, in short: a sustainable investment.

Betonfabriek Nigtevecht incorporates into its concrete mix the necessary Portland clinker, which in itself has a relatively high environmental impact. This is reduced to a responsible minimum and replaced by the almost CO₂-blast furnace slag, a residual product from the blast furnaces. As a recycled, secondary raw material, concrete granulate is added to the mixture, replacing a large proportion of the raw materials sand and gravel. Extra attention is paid to transport, which is done exclusively with trucks that comply with Euro class 6. Add to this the long service life of the concrete produced and we are talking about a sustainable product which is ideal for use within ground, road and hydraulic engineering, particularly as bank protection.

Anthracite-colored bollards with cast-in Marrekrite pompeblêden.

KIWA-certified sheet piles

The concrete sheet piles produced by Betonfabriek Nigtevecht are (like the other concrete products they make) KIWA-certified, Criteria 73, category 2. The sheet piles meet a (design) life of 100 years, based on the applicable Eurocode 2 standards. Reason enough for Marrekrite to choose this sustainable solution. To top it off, Betonfabriek Nigtevecht produces the sheet piles for Marrekrite in anthracite gray, so that the sheet piles blend in with the surroundings. In traditional execution the typical "concrete gray" would be a disturbing and unnatural looking element in the landscape. 

There are more advantages of using concrete sheet piles. The price is lower than hardwood, the length and width are less limited than those of hardwood sections (in the case of Marrekrite we are talking about sheet piles of between 4 and 6 meters in length) and there is less to no maintenance required. Anyone interested in the installation of concrete sheet piles or looking for a specialized solution in concrete, such as the piles for the Marrekrite Pompeblêd bollards, is welcome to contact Betonfabriek Nigtevecht.