Infra-Marketplace: 'Fifteen girders t.e.a.b.'

What to do with beam steel, old road plates, stelcon plates or wooden beams? These deserve a second life in the Infra-Marketplace. Reuse should become the new normal. "Specifically, we have fifteen concrete beams on offer. These will soon be released during the renovation of the Haringvliet Bridge."

Marketplace is the simple idea behind the Infra-Marketplace that Corstian van Hartingsveldt of Struijk and Eline Pohlmann of Mobilis want to kick-start. The managers advocate a new morality in the infrastructure sector: "The idea that you first look at what can be reused. Preferably on the site itself, but otherwise elsewhere." The Marketplace plays into matching construction sites. 

Struijk, like Mobilis, is part of TBI Infra and began last century as a demolition and remediation company. Hartingsveldt: "Nowadays we talk about dismantling. At least 80% on a construction site is well reusable on another project." Specifically, the marketplace runs through Stichting Insert, which was founded by several market players. "That's already running well, but could use a boost," he says. There are already drywall and duct floors on there, window frames and masonry, but almost no materials from the infra sector yet. That is going to change if it is up to the TBI companies, with Mobilis and Struijk leading the way. 

Reuse is not free

Hartingsveldt knows that reuse is not always the easiest route. Used material often has to be cleaned and stored. The chance of success for a good match between supply and demand is greatest if you know well in advance when material will be released. He points again to the example of the Haringvliet Bridge. "We went looking months ago and looked at the schedule together. Then in consultation you choose the best moment, because the renovation of the bridge has a downright tight phasing. We already know that in eight weeks we can cut the beams loose with wire saws. They're pre-stressed girders, so we have to look for an engineering structure where those 22-meter girders will fit exactly again. You can't cut a piece off. We reserved a location at the MDB to clean the girders. No, they are not to be collected for free. The added value and profit is in the reuse, in the saving of materials. In the CO₂ that is not released. Reuse deserves a fair price."

"Right now, construction is ahead of infra. In offices and houses, there is already a lively trade in materials such as drywall, duct floor plates and cable trays. We are going to make that step for infra as well."

Adjusting Routine

The ambition for the Marketplace: to place all released materials from at least ten ongoing infrastructure projects on the marketplace before the end of this year. The materials need not be released immediately, but must be accompanied by a timetable for when they will become available. 

Eline Pohlmann, Department Head of Management and Project Support at Mobilis insists on the need for a new morale in the infra sector. "It may still be the easy way out, but it is the only right way to do it. The environmental impact has to come down. That's a matter of mindset and doing. I remember a few years ago there was a lot of criticism about the ban on plastic bags in stores. Now you don't hear about it anymore. Nobody thinks it's strange anymore when the heating is set a few degrees lower to reduce gas consumption. With measures like this, you take steps and usually a routine is easy to adjust."

Forward 

All sorts of things are already being moved between Mobilis' various construction sites. This often involves loose elements such as emergency generators, lockers or office furniture. Construction huts also often get a second or third life. Furthermore, auxiliary bridges, barriers, driving plates, crowd barriers and other equipment are increasingly being moved from site to site. 

Relatively new is circular thinking about the project itself. "In fact, you should already be thinking in the tender about what elements you can reuse from a bridge, tunnel or water treatment plant. No one is concerned with end-of-life when a project has yet to be awarded. But it is most efficient to record right at the time of procurement and delivery what materials were used where. How something is attached and can also be loosened. During the tender or construction phase, the focus is on planning and delivery. Understandable but there too the industry needs to make a 'mindshift'. It is still too easy to do nothing."