'We sell carrying capacity'

As experts in commercial floors as well as foundations, Van Berlo is committed to creating sufficient bearing capacity for a commercial or industrial floor. After all, differential settlements have long-term consequences for the flatness and requirements of a floor. This is why Mini Vibro-piles, a product of Van Berlo Funderingstechnieken, are often used on 'bad' subsoil in the Netherlands. The pile system is now gaining in importance in Belgium as well.

Leave creating carrying capacity to Van Berlo.

Not all substrates are always the same, begins Frederik Crampe of Van Berlo. "With a poor substrate, a commercial or industrial floor can start to sag. That in itself is not a problem, as long as the floor sags evenly and this settlement is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, this is almost never the case, but we have to deal with differential settlements. In other words, settlements at different places in the subsoil and consequently under the floor. This has far-reaching consequences. In order to achieve a good quality floor, it is necessary in many locations - in the Netherlands and increasingly in Belgium - to start creating bearing capacity so that the load of the floor is transferred to deeper, stable soils."

Mini Vibro piles are faster (up to 250 piles per day) to install than other types of piles or gravel cores.

Load-bearing layer

Leave the creation of bearing capacity to Van Berlo. The family business offers clients a total package with its own engineering and foundation department. "Our Mini Vibro piles are usually installed at a depth of 3 to as much as 25 meters below ground level, depending on the depth of the load-bearing layer," Crampe explains. "The piles can only be loaded under pressure and provide a stable foundation for the commercial or industrial floor. Differential settlements in the intermediate layers have no effect on the floor." The gravel cores popular in Belgium also do not offer a settlement-free solution, according to Crampe. "The application of gravel cores is a form of soil improvement. The system is low settlement, whereas with our Mini Vibro piles we effectively achieve a foundation that is settlement-free. An essential difference."

The floor design is closely related to the pole design.

Poor substrates

The origins of Mini Vibro piles are in the Netherlands. Crampe: "Here the subsoils are generally considerably worse than in Belgium. But, we now see that in Belgium too, more and more construction is taking place on poor(er) soils. The good soils are no longer available. This is the reason why our pile system is also gaining popularity in Belgium. Mini Vibro piles are faster (up to 250 piles per day) to install than other types of piles or gravel cores. No real additional earthwork is required and the result is settlement-free. In 90% of the situations it is also a more economical solution. It does mean that we have to be involved in a construction project at an early stage. Because as Van Berlo we can provide both the engineering in-house, as well as the foundation and the floor, we can relieve clients from A to Z with a total concept."

Floor design is closely related to pile design, according to Crampe. "If piles are placed further apart, the floor should be made thicker, and vice versa. We always strive for an optimal grid in combination with an optimal floor design. This often results in a unique design by Belgian standards, a bed of nails of piles. People had to get used to such a slender foundation construction. But since we implemented the Colruyt distribution center in Ollignies in this way, it has become more and more accepted. Many projects followed, such as Dematra in Deinze, Torfs in Temse and large distribution centers of Heylen Warehouses and WDP."