Mouttoren Herent (België)
Solid Services was called in assess the overall state of the structure. Looking purely at the condition of the building, demolition and entirely new construction were a definite option, but the loss of production capacity in the meantime weighed heavily against this. Erecting a new building next to the existing tower to prevent such loss was also not an option, because it would be impossible to obtain a permit. In consultation with the client, we decided to renovate the building.
The guiding principle for the renovation was that the production process was to continue on 4 out of 5 floors. This production process uses a great deal of heat and moisture, saturated with chlorides, which permeate the structure. This presented quite a challenge during the conservation of the concrete components.
Additional information
Due to the use of cathodic protection on the primary beams of the floor structure, remediation beyond the reinforcement was not necessary. This prevented further weakening of the main supporting structure. Our calculations showed that temporary support or load restriction was therefore not necessary.
To minimise dust formation in areas directly adjacent to production areas, the old coating layers were removed via sponge jetting; a blast cleaning method that uses miniature sponge particles as an abrasive medium, preventing dust formation.