Solid steel structures in infra

Solidd Steel Structures lives up to its name. As risk-bearing main contractor or co-maker, Solidd designs, fabricates and assembles complex steel structures for leading projects. Managing Director Jan Willem Stob takes us through a number of high-profile projects, such as the renovation of the existing sluice gates on the Afsluitdijk, the Hermes Bridge in Leeuwarden and the Schinkel Bridge at the De Nieuwe Meer interchange on the A10 motorway,
one of the largest orders ever in the steel company's history.

Solidd is one of the partners in the Levvel consortium working on the renovation of the Afsluitdijk. "We have just started the renovation of the existing culverts which will keep us busy for the next few years," says a satisfied Stob who is a familiar face at the dam. "We renovated the culverts in 1993 and in 2007 as well. We are now going to dry out one of the shafts so that we can replace some parts. We're doing that in a construction team with the Department of Public Works and Levvel. That's where our strength lies, thinking along in solutions. We are an atypical steel company in that respect."

Project organization

Stob is referring to the way Solidd is organized. "We profile ourselves as a project organization in which we unburden our clients," he says. "That may be a catch-all term, but we actually live up to it in practice. After all, we have all disciplines in-house, taking care of engineering, production as well as machining and assembly. This means that we are able to think broadly and proactively with these types of complex projects and act transparently, leading to the best solution for each project. We stand for quality and our technical knowledge is not to be underestimated. We understand how systems work, and employ our own people at all levels. Even our production staff consists of 90 percent of our own employees. That is quite unique in the year 2025."

ROK 2.0

Solidd's contribution on the A10 at the De Nieuwe Meer interchange cannot be underestimated either. "We are responsible for the Schinkel complex that will have no less than four new bridges," says Stob. "It's a mega-project for us, in which we really put a lot of time and energy, and also include all the mechanical components for the motion work. And those come from all sorts of corners of the world, so that makes it quite complex. We have set up a special team to work intensively on this and to make sure that everything fits. During the project we also had to deal with the increased requirements of the ROK 2.0, so we had to go back to the drawing board. We are now a year and a half on and the first bridge is slowly taking shape."

For the renewal of the Hermes Bridge in Leeuwarden, Solidd is the risk-bearing general contractor. "We are renewing the halyards and movement work, as well as the concrete and brake work. The E&I installations are also being carried out under our auspices," says Stob, who explains that in this project much attention was paid to the behavior and culture in the construction team. "Suppose there is a setback, what behavior do we exhibit and how do we deal with it. We have made agreements and will hold each other to them." Finally, Stob also draws attention to Solidd's own service and maintenance department, which is growing. "The market is changing to a life-extending renovation market. We notice that the share of our service and maintenance department is becoming increasingly important, and we are putting a lot of time and energy into that."