SPECIAL | Futuristic-looking facade as technical masterpiece New distribution center for DSV Logistics at LAR-South industrial zone near French border

The precast concrete specialist was in charge of the entire concrete structure, metal sandwich panels, roof, floors and also aluminum joinery. The foundation stone was laid in early October 2018 and the buildings were commissioned in early June 2019.

DSV's distribution center at LAR-North was totally outdated and there was no room for expansion. Therefore, on June 3, the Road division of the transport and logistics group inaugurated a new, larger site on the LAR-Zuid industrial zone in Rekkem. DSV chose LAR-Zuid because of its excellent location with access roads to Flanders, Wallonia and France. "The project includes a cross-dock of 6,000 m² and a newly built office of 1,500 m². In this warehouse, incoming goods are not stored but immediately prepared for distribution to customers," says Bert Loyson, project manager at Valcke Prefab Beton. "Project developer Global Estate Group is also laying a 40,000 m² green and water buffer on the site and building an 8 m high noise barrier over a distance of 1 km."

Modern and professional construction partner

Valcke Precast Concrete is the ideal partner for the realization of such buildings. The company 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 many sectors, including logistics. Reference projects include the buildings of Van Mieghem Logistics (Tubeke), DHL (Roeselare), Transport Wybo (Poperinge) and 't Belfort (Puurs), with which we were even nominated for an award. Therefore, we were selected by Global Estate Group as the main contractor for the shell of this project. We were responsible for the concrete structure, metal sandwich panels, roof, floor and aluminum joinery," Loyson explains. "The hall is a completely open space with seamless concrete floors only interrupted by only six concrete columns in the shed. The structure was executed with prestressed concrete beams and the facade consists of concrete plinths topped with metal sandwich panels, designed according to DSV's corporate identity. On the outside, front docks with gates were integrated in a rather specific way. This warehouse is equipped with 25 unloading and loading docks on both sides, and a mezzanine on the second floor houses the offices."

Inside, Valcke created a completely open structure with seamless concrete floors, interrupted only by six concrete columns in the shed. The structure was executed in prestressed concrete beams.

Tight planning

Valcke Prefab Concrete also realized a new two-story office building with a striking facade constructed of panels in a light gray shade with relief, all in keeping with the transport company's corporate identity. "The biggest challenge was the tight schedule. The foundation stone was laid in early October and by the end of February the structural work on both buildings had to be completed," Loyson concludes. "Because of our scale, we were able to respond perfectly to the project developer's just-in-time method for element production, assembly and additional contracting work. Good cooperation and communication with all contractors was also important."