The Atrium

December 2014 Sterk was assigned to realize a construction pit of steel sheet piling for a new parking garage for the Atrium in Amsterdam by main contractor consortium Dura Vermeer / De Nijs Atrium VoF. The creation of a double layered strut frame construction will also be done by Sterk.

The Atrium is a large building that houses many different businesses. Aside from the renovation of the building it is also being expanded with a new parking garage as well as two new office towers. G&S Vastgoed (G&S Real Estate) is the commissioner of the project .

Sterk will have to insert approximately 650 meters of sheet piling varying from 20 to 22 meters in length. These sheet piles are being applied vibration free by means of static pressure combined with fluid injection. This vibration-free method is necessary because there is a lot of equipment that is sensitive to vibrations in the current buildings basement. Equipment that is vital for the trade at the Dutch stock market.

The work consists of four phases, in which three pits will be constructed successively and the last one will be made in a separate phase. The part of the sheet pile walls that is placed no more than 63 centimeters from the existing facade will be permanent. The remaining sheet piling will be removed at a later stage. This removal will be done by a so-called Silent Piler due to the limited space available. Because in order to realize as many parking spaces as possible each meter must be utilized.

At the outside the working space is confined by underground cables, piping, roads and several buildings. Also, the 9 bottom meters of an adjacent building that holds a staircase (located on the outside of the existing Atrium building) is being demolished so Sterk can place sheet-piling underneath this construction. These height restrictions mean that steel sheet piles have to be welded on top of each other in order to reach the desired length.

Logistically this work is no less of a challenge considering the small amount of space available around the construction site. This severely limited working space makes even the normally simple task of transporting gear and materials very complex. At a later stage Sterk will have to create several working plateaus for all of the lifting work that has to be done.