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Berrie Veenhof
Team manager
During the construction of a parking garage in the city center of Leiden, the builder wanted to cause as little disturbance as possible and prevent all forms of damage to the surroundings. This can be a major challenge, especially in urban areas where old houses with fragile foundations and sometimes monumental objects are present. In this case, constructions took place under a historic windmill. Monitoring helped the builder to anticipate in good time if limit values were at risk of being exceeded.
The outcome: nuisance and environmental damage have been avoided during the construction of a parking garage
The challenge: combining working speed with damage prevention
As a builder, you always need to prevent damage to the environment caused by your construction activities. Your challenge is therefore a balancing act between carrying out the construction activities as quickly as possible and preventing nuisances, such as vibrations or too low a groundwater level causing damage to the foundation piles. Taking into account all these circumstances can be quite a challenge. However, having access to the right information about the state of the environment, will help find the right balance.
The solution: making large amounts of crucial data available to all stakeholders involved
During this project, many different things were measured: settlements, misalignment and rotation of the buildings, crack width, deformation of the construction pit, groundwater levels, soil deformations, vibrations and noise. Through the unique and agile Sweco Monitoring Platform the large amounts of data from different sensors and other monitoring platforms could be converted and shared in one web-based dashboard environment that is available for stakeholders.
To provide the right information, you need to collect the right data. During projects like this, Sweco works closely together with various partners and suppliers, always allowing for the most suitable sensors to be used. What’s more, with 21,000 engineers and experts in many different fields, Sweco can always help the builder when measures need to be taken to limit the nuisance.
The result: a parking garage was built under an old windmill without causing damage or nuisance
By taking all measures as described above, the monumental windmill, de Valk, has not suffered any damage during the construction of the parking garage. Building a parking garage of 22 meters deep could have negatively affected the environment and adjacent buildings. However, by pressing sheet piles, drilling anchors and by using diaphragm walls of concrete, the builder has reduced nuisance to the very minimum. The more than 60,000 cubic metres of soil were not transported by truck, but a pressure pipeline was laid for this purpose. The Sweco Monitoring Platform has clearly enabled the contractor to limit the nuisance for local residents and avoid damage to buildings.
