How to shorten high-rise construction by three months

Xella and developer Van Wijnen have chosen a fast shell construction system in which a centrally positioned crane places prefabricated concrete floor, wall and façade sections. And with this creative solution they have shown how to speed up the construction of a high-rise building by three months and in this way saving time, efforts and costs.

The secret lies in the successful cooperation between the trades involved and, in detail, in the early pre-positioning of the Ytong material, which is later used for the partition walls. Since Ytong autoclaved aerated concrete is insensitive to moisture, it is no problem to deliver it already in the construction phase. "The challenge was to get the pallets into the building envelope early and accurately without getting in the way of the piping and installation work," says Bas Peereboom, Business Development Manager at Xella Nederland BV.

After the piping work on the floor has been completed, the crane lifts the pallets with the individually assembled materials to the respective floor. There it places the packages on pre-positioned autoclaved aerated concrete blocks. 

Only then is the floor filled with foamed concrete – at the same height as the autoclaved aerated concrete blocks. While the screed hardens, the next floor is laid. At the same time, the Ytong partition walls can already be raised on the hardened screed with the previously placed material.

This approach enables a much more efficient supply as it makes a difference in the number of transport movements. In contrast to other internal wall systems, the panels are therefore not subsequently transported upwards via a construction lift but with the centrally placed crane, too. Compared to a traditional building method, this procedure saves three days per floor and creates one floor per week – meaning a shortage of three months in the whole construction process. 

Drivers of this innovative process were the colleagues from Xella Nederland BV in cooperation with developer Van Wijnen, the suppliers Bestcon and Faber and various installers.

Xella International GmbH

Düsseldorfer Landstra.e 395

47259 Duisburg, Germany

kommunikation@xella.com

www.xella.com