New coat of paint for existing steel structure of Leeuwarden station

It is a special job for Leon Burger and his staff. The director and co-owner of Straalbedrijf Holland West from Heerhugowaard sees the preservation of the reusable materials of the station caps of Leeuwarden station as a nice challenge. One that should not be compared to preserving metal for new construction.

"With new construction, you have to meet many requirements in order to work with the client to put the work away in the most sustainable way. When reusing scrap metal, the starting point is the same, but additional challenges emerge. 130 years ago, people had different requirements for finishing. In particular, accessibility to preserve the entire surface is a challenge. To conserve the cracks and crevices in the structure, we have found an effective method. There is a lot of consultation with Anton Rail & Infra and Movares in that area."

Repairing, blasting and varnishing

Sandblasting company Holland West receives the repaired poles the poles first, then blasts them before applying a new coat of paint. "We apply a three-layer wet paint," Burger outlines. "In the color passed on to us, after approval by the National Monument Commission. We not only conserve the old poles this way, but also receive the newly cast poles. All elements are pre-treated and wet painted in three coats, in a classic, dark green color."

By the way, the poles are not the only metal parts that will be preserved by Straalbedrijf Holland West. The company will also apply new paint to the trusses, with the same pretreatment. Burger calculates: "In total, we are getting about 4,700 m² well iron, wrought iron and cast iron to preserve, from this project. The new coating we put on it gives protection for the next 25 years. That is in accordance with ISO 12944-5, the longest protection period to be issued. This ranges from 'low', 'medium', 'high' to 'very high'."

Known in the GWW

For Straalbedrijf Holland West, this assignment is special because of its historical value and size. "However, we are a well-known company in the GWW," Burger outlines. "We conserve a lot of new construction bridge parts, we schooperen (which is the thermal application of an alloy of zinc with aluminum (85/15) and this on a Sa 3 blasted metal surface) and coat a lot for the GWW. Our specialty is coating steel exposed to immersion loads or steel exposed to atmospheric influences C4/C5 or CX . Then we are talking about heavy corrosive conditions. This is why you often see our work in braking works." Meanwhile, Straalbedrijf Holland West has carried out the first tests for Leeuwarden station and expects to start in mid-2021.