Specialist in precast concrete makes everything in-house

Those who make everything in-house can respond flexibly to customers' wishes and optimize efficiency on the shop floor. For Valcke Prefab Beton, that is immediately one of its strongest points. The specialist from Vlamertinge near Ypres has its own concrete plant and factory, takes care of transport and ensures the realization of various structural projects with its own assembly teams. Today, the company is strongly committed to the ecological aspect of concrete construction.

Text | Johan Debaere  Image | Valcke Precast Concrete

Valcke Prefab Beton was founded in 1930, when Charles Valcke started a workshop for manufacturing small concrete products. Soon the demand came from agriculture to build sheds in precast concrete and so Valcke Prefab Beton became one of the pioneers of precast construction in Belgium. From the 1950s, the company also focused on the industry and since 1960, Valcke Prefab Beton has also delivered ready-mixed concrete from its own fully automated concrete plant. "Today we have a strong reputation as a modern and professional construction partner for industrial buildings, offices, showrooms, logistics buildings, retail parks, in fact for all projects where you can build with precast concrete," says CEO Charles Valcke. "Reference projects include the buildings of Zoutman (Roeselare), Facozinc (Mons), Liebaert (Deinze), DSV (Rekkem), Van Mieghem Logistics (Tubize), GTS (Ghent), DHL (Roeselare), Transport Wybo (Poperinge) and 't Belfort (Puurs), with which we were even nominated for an award."

The specialist realized a striking 30-meter-high building in Puurs for Castelein Logistics. For small or beginning entrepreneurs, such a project is not feasible.

All in-house

The fact that Valcke does everything in-house is a huge advantage. The company has its own concrete plant and a factory where all precast elements are custom produced, and has a fleet of trucks for transport to the construction site, where the assembly teams get to work. "We are responsible for the realization of the entire process: from preparation to shell construction. We check the quality of our products and service at every moment: on the shop floor, throughout the logistics chain and during assembly. To this end, we have 400 employees, 35 of whom work at our sister company Traconord in northern France," the CEO continued. "We have also built up enormous expertise, which allows us to respond perfectly to clients' needs. We know what clients need and what we can handle. For example, for a builder in Puurs, we realized a building 30 meters high. While such a project is not feasible for a small or novice, our team can handle it perfectly."

For DSV at LAR-Noord in Rekkem, Valcke Prefab Beton built a distribution center and a new two-story office building.

Ecology and innovation

At Valcke Prefab Concrete, they are not resting on their laurels. With an eye to the future, much attention is paid to the development of new products and the ecological aspect of concrete construction. "A building in concrete does not heat up quickly anyway and releases heat slowly, keeping it cool in summer and warmer in winter. Since there are a lot of high-rise projects today, we also make precast elements that weigh up to 64 tons. Stairs and elevator shafts are produced in one day, reducing the time it takes to complete projects. And in the construction of roofs, we often focus on integrating green roofs or mounting solar panels," Valcke concludes. "For the production of our precast elements, we use water from our own buffer basin, and we further invested in a system for recycling concrete waste."