Foundation industry has future

The Netherlands faces major challenges, climate change, aging, population growth and the question of how to keep our country livable in the future without compromising too much on prosperity and well-being.

For the foundation sector, climate change represents an opportunity. In order to anticipate the change and keep dry feet, many water works will have to be realized and in this the use of foundation techniques such as sheet piling, anchors, soil mix walls, etc. are indispensable. Foundations are also needed when building windmills and solar parks.

On the other hand, it requires the foundation industry to think about the use of raw materials. How can it be more circular? And can concrete, for example, with less CO2 load or even CO2 neutral? A big role here is on the design side. The foundation companies are ready to think along, but are usually not the designers of foundation structures.

The design of foundations should/could include more functions of the foundation. Consider the incorporation of heat exchangers in piles and sheet piling, giving them an energy-generating function. This is already being applied in practice, allowing buildings to be partially supplied with heat and cooling. Another example is to apply this to the foundation of a bridge deck, for example. In summer, cooling can prevent expansion and in winter, heating by only a few degrees can prevent freezing of road parts.

With the foundation machines we see a development towards new and cleaner engines, although in the realization of foundations the CO2 resulting from the engines is relatively small compared to the raw materials (concrete and steel). The sector is not sitting still in this respect and several sustainable machines have already been put into use. The investments are high and should be rewarded. 

For the labor market, aging is an issue that will also affect our companies. Within the foundation industry, we are continuously working on projects to improve working conditions and it cannot be ruled out in the future that some of the execution of projects will be robotized.  

The challenge of population growth and the associated demand for housing is an opportunity for the sector. However, with additional construction alone, we cannot solve the demand. We will also have to look at how we can make good use of the existing stock of buildings. Consider the longer use of buildings by using foundation repair and when topping up (building one or more floors on top of an existing building) the use of existing foundations is important here. By testing what the existing foundation can bear, a lot of costs, time and CO2 can be saved.

All in all, without a good foundation, no future!     

The Pen - Jaap Estié – Director Dutch Foundation Contractors Association (NVAF).