Kwaadmechelen Concrete Plant | New concrete plant is calling card for tradition business in building materials

Bouwmaterialen Wijckmans, a family business from Kwaadmechelen (Ham), celebrated its hundredth anniversary last year. This one-stop-shop and supplier of building materials for the professional and private market and specialist in the production of ready-mixed concrete and concrete elements built this year a new concrete plant along the Kwaadmechelen-Dessel canal. UBO Engineering developed a flexible concrete (tower) plant with two mixers, suitable for supplying materials by ship or trucks. A bypass system allows gravel to be loaded into the truck mixer outside the mixers. With this sustainable and ecological new building, Wijckmans is ready for further growth.

The history of Bouwmaterialen Wijckmans goes back to 1918, when Jan Wijckmans founded the company and delivered coal, fertilizers and building materials by horse and cart. Meanwhile, the fourth generation of Wijckmans leads this company, which has grown into a well-known supplier of building materials for professionals and private individuals. In addition, the Ham-based company is known as a specialist in the production of ready-mixed concrete and concrete products. Bart is in charge of general management, while his brothers Kurt and Gert are responsible for production and warehouse and logistics activities respectively. Father Rob still keeps an eye on things. "We are first and foremost a building materials wholesaler with twenty-five of our own trucks serving contractors all over the country as well as a strong focus on the private market in Limburg and the Antwerp Kempen region," says Bart Wijckmans. "Since 1978, however, we have also had a concrete plant, specializing in the production of concrete wells, particularly rainwater wells, septic tanks, small-scale water treatment plants, oil and grease separators, control wells, ... with volumes ranging from 2,000 to as much as 20,000 liters."

New concrete plant with combined mixing plant

Recently, the concrete specialist invested in the construction of a progressive concrete plant, which is to become the firm's new calling card. For this purpose, the quay along the Kwaadmechelen-Dessel Canal, a tributary of the Albert Canal, was extended in Ham. Bouwmaterialen Wijckmans is located near the canal and wants to transport all raw materials by ship even more than before. The company built a high-quality concrete plant with a surface area of 1,800 m² for the production of precast concrete elements, but also for the supply of ready-mixed concrete. For the realization of the mixing plant, the Wijckmans brothers called on the specialists of UBO Engineering, one of the leading suppliers of machinery and equipment for the concrete industry. Thanks to its own engineering department and production facilities as well as its extensive delivery program, this company from Soesterberg can offer customer-specific solutions for production-technical and logistical challenges in concrete products, concrete elements and concrete mortar factories.

The concrete plant is a combined plant, where both raw materials by ship or
can be delivered by trucks. The plant also includes a social area,
showers and locker rooms and a kitchen for staff.

"We developed and realized a combined plant, where raw materials can be supplied by both ship and truck. This flexible plant includes a tower plant with two mixers with a gross capacity of 3,750 and 1,500 liters respectively for supplying concrete to the truck mixers and the in-house production lines for concrete elements. Thanks to a special bypass system, gravel can be fed outside the mixing plant to the truck mixers," explains Michel Bregman, co-owner of UBO Engineering. "This concrete plant can also be used to process concrete and stabilizer for private individuals, and via a separate filling system, cement can also be weighed out for collection. We have ensured that all components are very easily accessible for maintenance, which is not evident with a tower plant. In addition to the concrete plant, this new concrete plant also includes a social area, showers and changing rooms and a kitchen for the staff." Bart Wijckmans adds: "We also thought about the environment. For example, we collect rainwater in a 220,000-liter buffer basin. So we can produce our concrete entirely with rainwater and that water can also be used for rinsing the truck mixers and maintaining the facilities. Furthermore, we can also provide our own energy with our solar panels."