Construction of largest distribution center Benelux: a handsome 13 million kilo job

The largest distribution center in the Benelux has recently been under construction at the Logistic Park Moerdijk business park. Construction company Vrolijk is carrying out a unique assignment here and is doing so at an astonishingly fast pace: in ten months, it completed the entire construction of this warehouse that, including offices, covers 240,000 square meters. In addition to speed, this project has numerous other challenges: various curves and overhangs, a thousand rooftop parking spaces and BREEAM certification. Now that construction is nearly complete, we asked project manager Steffen Jansma how he looks back on the past few months and how Bouwbedrijf Vrolijk tackled all the challenges.

In addition to ten distribution halls, which will be supplemented by a 38,600-square-meter mezzanine, 200 docks and five different offices will be built. Completion of this new XXL warehouse will take place at the end of this year.

Total Overview

Jansma has been with Vrolijk for 15 years. "What is special about this project, of course, is the size and detailing," he says. "This is not a standard logistics building, but there are specific aesthetic requirements. That requires good mutual cooperation between all colleagues. Normally you have one overall view of the project, but now we divide the project into several sub-projects. That took some getting used to, but it has turned out very positively and even improves cooperation and cohesion between colleagues."

Architectural challenge

"The architectural features made the detailing and assembly sequence a unique project," Jansma said. "Because we have our own design and engineering department, however, we were able to take over the design responsibility of the structure. This not only allowed us to completely unburden the customer, but also to optimize the detailing of the structure and thus shape the construction sequence to our own liking. Since we were able to produce the required thirteen million kilograms of steel ourselves at our new steel plant in Heiningen, we also kept a grip on the timely delivery of the materials." The new plant Vrolijk Staalconcepten opened in 2024. Vrolijk chose its own standard so that it can build even more efficiently, smartly and sustainably. In addition, it gives much more control over the construction process.   

Five assembly crews

"Normally one works with one or two assembly crews, but in order to complete this construction in a relatively short time frame, we needed as many as five crews," Jansma emphasizes. "This of course required very precise coordination. Each shift started three weeks later than the other shift, so it was extremely important that no shift stagnated. But this went extremely well! We really owe that to the qualities of our colleagues in the Planning Department and to the good cooperation with our partners."

Vrolijk is a connecting contractor that works intensively with regular partners from pricing to completion. "Also during this construction process it was very noticeable that these fixed relationships ensure that you are well attuned to each other. That is also necessary when there are about three hundred people on the construction site at the same time. After all, you can switch gears more easily when unexpected events occur and help each other with every challenge."

Parking deck

The rooftop parking deck is also special, of course. Not only must it be able to support a thousand vehicles and several loading bays, Vrolijk also had to take into account the increasing use of electrically powered vehicles. "These are generally a bit heavier than fuel-powered vehicles and require a larger ramp. This means that proper construction of the pavement is important. We made sure that the hollow-core slabs with the compression layers and the construction of the street sand and pavement are well matched, so that the whole thing remains watertight."

Welding robots

"Another crucial aspect that allowed us to meet the deadline was the way we used temporary auxiliary steel during the construction process," Jansma believes. "Which incidentally brings me to another advantage of co-engineering: you can promote safety on the construction site. For example, we included the assembly of the permanent stairs in the design, so they were assembled immediately, which of course immediately made the working environment a lot safer."

Another special element of this new distribution center are the trusses. In the Netherlands it is rare to see welding robots used for the production of these trusses, but at the new steel plant in Heiningen they are doing it! "Trusses are laborious products. By using robots for the welding, a constant quality with extremely precise welding is created. This fits with our vision of using our own steel to optimize the construction process."

Sustainable

Almost ninety percent of all distribution centers realized by Vrolijk are built according to BREEAM certification. So the decision to set up a BREEAM department several years ago proved to be no unnecessary one. "In order to advise clients optimally, our BREEAM experts keep a close eye on innovations in the field of sustainable building. These include modular construction and circular design, so that materials can be reused. But also urban mining, in which raw materials such as steel and concrete are recovered from old buildings and then reused. Steel beams and bricks from demolition projects, for example, can be used in new construction projects."

The steel plant in Heijningen also contributed to the sustainability of this building: "We chose to powder-coat the steel we wanted to use in the interior. Thanks to our new powder coating plant in Heijningen, we were able to apply this coating immediately after the steel was produced. This contributed to efficiency, but also made the construction more durable. After all, had we had to have the coating done by a third party, it would have required a lot of transportation, which is of course less favorable environmentally."

Retrospective

Jansma rightly looks back on the construction phase with great satisfaction. "We are all extremely proud of the progress and that we were able to do this together with our colleagues from Vrolijk Staalconcepten. It is quite an achievement to accomplish this from a brand new company!" And are there any so-called lessons learned? "We are working towards getting to know the customer's processes better and better, so that together we arrive at future-proof solutions. This project certainly contributed to that."