Particularly long tubular piles for New Terneuzen Lock

The New Lock Terneuzen is not so much complex and challenging, as far as Patrick Stoelhorst, co-owner Gooimeer, is concerned. Rather, he experiences it as a multifaceted and special project. With his company, he supplied anchor material with lengths of up to 60 meters and tubular piles of some 90 tons each. 

Gooimeer is best known as a supplier of steel sheet piles. They have been doing so for almost 50 years. In the beginning from Naarden on Lake Gooimeer, for 30 years from Almere on the other side of Lake Gooimeer. The company is no stranger to earthworks, hydraulic engineering and road construction. Its steel sheet piles and products are used to reinforce quays, roads and temporary construction pits, among other things, in the Netherlands and other Western European countries, from Norway to Portugal. For example, they supplied steel sheet piles and tubular piles for the A9 near Amstelveen, sheet piles for the framework renovation in Amsterdam, tubular piles for the Blankenburg Tunnel, and they are also involved in the Oosterweel connection in the Antwerp region. 

Anything but standard sizes

"For the New Lock Terneuzen in 2019, we initially supplied anchor material," Patrick said. "This involved very large solid steel bars up to 60 meters long and up to 175 mm in diameter, which were attached to each other by means of connectors." Supplying this anchor material sounds easier on paper than it actually was. "Given the great variety of lengths, dimensions and connection solutions, which we also had to supply in 3D drawings, I can say that it has been a beautiful and multifaceted project for us. There was also the necessary calculation work involved. That made it quite a job to get everything approved and manufactured on time. This always creates a certain amount of tension. But thanks in part to the good and pleasant cooperation and coordination within the Nieuwe Sluis Terneuzen construction team, things went smoothly." Two final orders followed in 2023 and April this year, namely the delivery of large steel tubular piles. What caused some healthy tension here was the fact that the material had to come from China. "The first question that came up here was, 'Does the material from China meet the set quality requirements and can it be delivered on time?' We have good experiences with the supplier in China. At the request of construction consortium Sassevaart, another independent inspector was specially sent to check and approve the quality and working conditions." What made the delivery of the tubular piles special is that it was anything but standard work. "To give you an idea: the largest diameter was 2,200 mm and the maximum thickness of the steel was 60 millimeters, so very substantial. The longest tubular piles were 45 meters with a weight of around 90 tons."

Steel sheet piling as an energy source

As for steel sheet piles in general, Gooimeer has come up with a particularly interesting additional application for this, that of an infinite energy source. In other words; steel sheet piles as energy dam walls. For this, among other things, the company won the Water Innovation Award in 2021. The website energie-damwanden.nl shows how it works. Here, the soil plays the role of energy source where surface and groundwater are utilized through thermally activated steel sheet pile walls to extract energy. Thus, buildings can be heated or cooled by means of heat pumps. "The Netherlands is pre-eminently the country of steel sheet pile walls. The energy is therefore literally on our doorstep. If we then also utilize this as an additional energy source in the form of energy dam walls, the possibilities are enormous!"