Platform on civil engineering, underground infrastructure, energy, construction equipment & construction machinery
The dike reinforcement operation between Wolferen and Sprok has no less than three hundred (!) interfaces with cables and pipes. Not very surprising therefore that engineering firm SGS Roos+Bijl was involved in the design at an early stage. From a helicopter view, the specialist in cables and pipelines mapped all interfaces and, in close cooperation with the network operators, the water board and the construction consortium, made a number of smart design adjustments that led to substantial savings for the project.
"Waterschap Rivierenland very deliberately called on the expertise of market parties at an early stage in order to tackle challenges during execution already in the design," says Wilko van Kruisbergen, project manager at SGS Roos+Bijl. "That led to the formation of design team Betuwse Waard, which we also joined as a specialist in cables and pipes. In this way a nice interaction arose with themes that we could jointly examine: what are the wishes of the water board, what is feasible for the contractor and what is feasible with regard to cables and pipes? And more specifically: what is in the ground, what needs to be moved, what are the risks and how can we mitigate or reduce these risks?"
SGS Roos+Bijl's input into the design team even led to design adjustments at some points. "The project covers a route of about 13 kilometers that is crossed at three locations by TenneT's overhead high-voltage grid," explains David Deinum, SGS Roos+Bijl project coordinator. "Initially it seemed that all three spans would have to be modified. That has quite an impact. This is because there are legal standards for, among other things, the free space between the embankment and the conductor in connection with current flow. The raising of the Waalwijk meant that this minimum distance was not met. With the design team, we managed to take the necessary measures at those locations so that the high-voltage grid did not have to be drastically modified. At one location the profile of the dike was adjusted, at the second location the conductors were pulled tighter and at the third mast the suspension was adjusted. These interventions lead to a huge saving of several million euros, quite apart from the enormous complexity and risks involved in disconnecting a high-voltage grid."
Given the many interfaces with cables and pipelines in this project, it is important that these are moved in good time, preferably well before combination De Betuwse Waard starts on site with the dyke reinforcement operation. During execution, SGS Roos+Bijl is closely monitoring that all this work is neatly coordinated. "In principle, a utility company is itself responsible for its network and taking care of the adjustments to it," Deinum continues. "In this case, Liander outsourced that entirely to us, both for the gas lines and electrical cables. We assess the interfaces, make the design and apply for the permits in a timely manner. For all other utilities, we were the liaison between combination De Betuwse Waard and underground infrastructure contractor Van den Heuvel." Van Kruisbergen adds: "This is also often the crux: the contractor always looks as far ahead as possible, the process of relocating cables and pipes can easily take six months. Ad hoc changes in the planning are not obvious. We overcome such situations by being physically present at the weekly planning meeting and emphasizing the importance of the often invisible cables and pipes in the subsurface."
SGS Roos+Bijl is broadly oriented in the field of cables and pipelines. "We have an awful lot of knowledge and experience in house and above all we are driven to relieve our clients of their worries," says Van Kruisbergen. "We are always willing to go the extra mile by also taking on engineering, for example. And that is appreciated, because the water board has already expressed that they will use a similar working method in future dike reinforcement operations."
