Scaffolding and support structures on iconic projects

PERI is an established name in the world of scaffolding and support structures. For this edition of Concrete & Steel Construction, we visited two high-profile projects where PERI's system solutions were shown to their maximum advantage: the major maintenance of the Erasmus Bridge and project 3 bridges in Hoorn.

Major maintenance was carried out on the 28-year-old Erasmus Bridge in 2024, spread over the year. For example, the underside was cleaned and painted, the bike paths received a new wear layer, and the necessary wear and rust spots were repaired and treated. Most eye-catching part of the exercise was undoubtedly the cleaning and painting of the 139-meter-high steel pylon, not least because of the special scaffolding construction with crash deck consisting of scaffolding material from PERI.

Special scaffolding structure on the bridge

PERI was approached by the Municipality of Rotterdam at the preliminary stage to conduct a feasibility study. "There had to be a crash deck on the bridge, a particularly large object given its size. At the same time, we knew that the capacity of the bridge was normative," says Mark Godwaldt, engineer at PERI. "We had to take into account profile-free spaces for traffic and cyclists. But also with the requirement from the municipality that the streetcar line should not be disturbed during the erection and dismantling of the structure. We demonstrated in the preliminary phase that it was feasible with our PERI Up Flex modular scaffolding in combination with the LGS truss system. Ultimately, the municipality put the project on the market, using our calculations and design drawings as an 'insert'." 

Energetic

Van der Ende Steel Protection won the tender with Steigerbouw van der Panne as scaffolding contractor, one of PERI's partners. "This allowed the proposed system to be brought to fruition," says Godwaldt. "The LGS trusses were assembled in advance and delivered and erected during the nights. The maintenance work progressed to such an extent that the scaffolding could already be dismantled at the end of August, whereas it had actually been planned for October. All in all, it was a wonderful reference for us as PERI on an iconic project that was in the spotlight for several months."

High concrete pressure

Perhaps slightly less known, but no less spectacular is the 3 Bridges in Hoorn project. These bridges will soon allow people to walk from the historic Westfriese Omringdijk to the new Hoorn city beach. The bridges are designed as beach entrances and the shape of the bridges is inspired by the shape of a historical dike. PERI designed the formwork for the three bridges based on the VARIO wall formwork system combined with Variokit. "These systems lend themselves extremely well to this type of complex application," says Wout van de Weijer, structural engineer at PERI. "Indeed, this design cannot be executed with a traditional wall formwork because the wall of the bridge tilts backwards at a 45-degree angle and is poured with self-compacting concrete. The higher the wall, the higher the concrete pressure. This calls for a constructive and complex formwork to measure. Especially when the concrete pressure increases to approximately 100 kN/m². As a result of the height difference of approximately 2 meters in the walls sloping backwards, a cover formwork was also designed to cope with the high upward concrete pressures. The walls must be completely liquid-proof. The concrete is pressed into them via a concrete pump connection at the bottom of the formwork."

PERI supplied two formwork solutions for the 3 Bridges project, which are multi-purpose. Two bridges are in fact identical, the third differs in length. The elements are largely pre-assembled at PERI in Schijndel. Thanks in part to expert personnel from the contractor on duty, Unie van Marken, it was a matter of placing and setting the pre-assembled elements. The final bridge will be poured in early 2025 and then this iconic project will also be completed.