The shell structure for the most sustainable Van der Valk hotel is upright

Every ten days a floor up

Anyone driving regularly along the A1 motorway has seen the building emerge from the ground in recent times: Dura Vermeer Bouw Hengelo is building the new, sustainable Van der Valk hotel in Deventer here.

The Van der Valk hotel will have ten floors, housing 140 hotel rooms, a restaurant, seven meeting rooms and two conference rooms. The ninth and tenth floors will house a fitness centre and wellness centre with swimming pool. Development company Dura Vermeer Bouw Hengelo will realise the shell, facades and rough interior finishing for the hotel.

Balconies with stone strips

An example of smart working was provided by Dura Vermeer for the balconies, which had to be covered with stone strips. "With this kind of work, the best results are achieved when working under conditioned conditions," says Huub Scholten, Dura Vermeer's contractor. "This is why we built a kind of balcony factory on site, within reach of the tower crane. On flat trucks and in a heated tent, we fitted the balconies with stone strips. Then they were immediately ready for transport upstairs. This allowed us to continue working even in bad weather."

For the tower crane, tight logistics applied.

Challenging logistics

In order to keep all structural work tightly connected, all parties worked intensively together. Together, they determined the logistics of the tower crane. "We worked out various scenarios," says Scholten. "Was it better to erect two or three concrete walls a day? And was it better to install the floor in two or three shifts? That approach saved us a lot of time. The day-start talks on safety, quality, respect and planning also helped to dot the 'i'."

Ensuring safety

While one team climbed to the top floor of the building with the structural work - one floor every ten days - another team started to seal off the facades on the second floor so that interior finishing could begin here. Then from above, the scaffolding descended again to install the external ceilings and glass balustrades on each floor. Scholten: "You understand that there has to be logistical planning behind this, ensuring safety for everyone."

Eyecatcher

The lobby is adorned with a cast-in-place circular concrete staircase that curves upwards. "We left this craftsmanship to a specialist with experience in this kind of concrete work, also at other Van der Valk hotels. It was an intensive job in terms of sizing and weaving, but the result is worth it."

For sustainability reasons, sustainable installations were chosen throughout, such as a high-temperature heat pump, a thermal energy storage system (WKO) and the KAT system developed by Linthorst Techniek, which cleans and reuses warm air from the kitchen. The roof was filled with solar panels. Dura Vermeer in turn fitted triple glazing to the facades and used extra high insulation values for the cavity walls and roof.