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Appeldoorn BV has for many years been the partner for Heijmans when it comes to the deployment of sweeping machines and road surface cleaners at the airport. Also for project VDR and the renewal of the asphalt layer of the Polderbaan, Appeldoorn provides 24/7 non-stop assistance with sometimes as many as 17 manned machines simultaneously.
The asphalt on the Polderbaan dates from 2001 and was in need of renewal. It was up to Heijmans to provide the 6 kilometer long and 60 meter wide runway with new asphalt. "We were asked in the preliminary stages to help think about the planning and execution, especially with regard to the deployment of our equipment," says Johan van Lagen of Appeldoorn BV. "After all, an enormous amount of asphalt (150,000 tons) was milled in a short period of time. Before the adhesive layer for the new asphalt could be applied, the surface had to be swept and cleaned with 250 bar water pressure. That's what we're good at."
"When you look at a schedule with all the stakeholders, unforeseen issues always come up," Van Lagen continued. "Especially with such a large project and usually busy airport like Schiphol, it is essential that everything is planned down to the last detail. Walk-outs or delays are not desirable. For that matter, we are only following in the whole process. Nevertheless, we do have to ensure that we can make sufficient capacity available at peak times. At one point we had 17 machines on the Polderbaan running in three shifts 24 hours a day. Even on Sundays and holidays. There are few companies that manage to do that at a location like Schiphol. It was quite an organization to get everyone in the right place. Thanks also to our employees. They breathe road construction, have an enormous mountain of knowledge and experience, and love being active on projects like these. In total, we provided some sixteen weeks of non-stop assistance with the sweeping and cleaning of the Polderbaan, the bulk of which was in the first four weeks from the beginning of February this year."
Appeldoorn is active at the airport almost non-stop for Heijmans. "We are also providing the necessary assistance for the modification of the Zulu interchange, part of project VDR. We are proud that, as a company, we can lend our cooperation to these appealing projects. Incidentally, we are also active outside Schiphol in road construction for various small and large infrastructure contractors with a fleet of now 33 sweeper and road surface cleaners."
