Construction of operating building and service port building underway

Two eye-catching buildings

Two buildings are rising in the immediate vicinity of the New Lock. Right next to the New Lock a control building is being constructed from which the lock will soon be operated. And in the new service port, the foundations for the service port building with offices and a shed have already been laid. Construction is in the hands of the Zeeland construction company Van Driessche & De Koster.

"We are proud to have erected the shell of the control building in a short period of time," project manager Patrick Hemelaar bluntly declares. It had to be done within five weeks, quite a challenge for the Zeeland construction company. "Compare it to a sprint. Thanks to the good cooperation with contractor combination Sassevaart, Tricon and Bouwbedrijf Vrolijk, we succeeded." After Van den Driessche & De Koster placed the structural shell of prefabricated concrete of the 62-meter-long and 13-meter-wide building, further completion took place. "On the foundation we then placed the concrete walls, floors, columns and roof with a large crane. Now that's finished, the window frames are being installed, then further finishing work such as the exterior facade and the interior of the building can begin." The design of the control building is inspired by the existing buildings at the lock complex, with a modern look. In addition to operating the lock, the building will soon also house other maritime service functions such as boatmen, for example. 

Precise work

Time is also a major challenge for the construction of the second building, the service port building. In addition, weather plays an important factor in the progress of the work. "Especially when hoisting the precast elements, we had to take into account the wind strength," he said. A third factor is the design. "It's a beautiful building but with tricky details. The building consists mostly of glass facades. The vertical and horizontal concrete walls must have wind and watertight connections. This all has to fit together seamlessly. And that with a dimension of 100 meters in length and 20 meters in width. Very precise work and certainly not an everyday occurrence. For this we therefore use our best people with a lot of experience and knowledge." The building consists of three parts. A part with office spaces for towing and salvage company Multraship, in the middle of the building there will be a shed and there will be another part with office spaces that will house Rijkswaterstaat, the Royal Military Police and towing service Boluda, among others. 

Zeeland roots

For Hemelaar and the team at Van Driessche & De Koster, the contribution to the New Lock Terneuzen is extra special because of their Zeeland roots. "We very much want to mean something in this. You have a bond with it and we are proud to be able to participate in this."