On a sunny day Jan Bongers of the Den Ouden Group on the Corio Glana project shows what has happened in recent months. And that's a lot! He provides a detailed explanation of the work that Den Ouden and Strukton Civiel Zuid are carrying out together on behalf of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and the Limburg Water Board.
About the project
Client: Gemeente Sittard-Geleen
Implementation period: September 2020 to October 2021
“Actually, the work consists of several specifications,” he begins his story. “We are currently working on the construction of a storage sedimentation basin, the redevelopment of the Geleenbeek and the reconstruction of a number of roads in the surrounding area, including the construction of a separate sewer system. Those road reconstructions are now far finished. We have already renovated the pond in the city park and we are currently also working on the refurbishment of the park itself. New cycling and walking paths will be built here, among other things. There is a restaurant in the park, adjacent to the Geleenbeek. We have also worked there before, so that the work for the terrace season was finished.
Characteristic stacking stones
Striking in this project is the use of stacking stones along the stream. They give the edges firmness and look very nice, but are also permeable to water. For example, water can drain between the stones into the ground, but the sand cannot return through a cloth behind the stones. In total we use about 7,000 tons of stacking stones. That alone requires enormous planning and logistics to get them all here at the right time.
Weather conditions
By allowing the Geleenbeek to meander through the landscape more naturally, it meanders over a larger area, allowing more water to be absorbed into the area. This helps to handle larger amounts of rainfall during heavy rainfall. And that a lot of water flows through the area here, we have noticed during work in recent months. Some activities are very weather dependent. If we had to build below water level, we had an extra drain through a large pipe as a temporary facility to divert the water away from the stream. But on some days it rained so much that even that was not enough to drain the water.
Attention to ecology
Halfway the stream is a weir, which regulates where the water flows in case of heavy rainfall. To allow fish to find a natural route without being bothered by the weir and the current, we are also constructing a fish passage. This regulates the speed of the flowing water in a part of the stream through which the fish can pass. There is a lot of attention for ecology in the project and this is an example of that.
Rainwater
We also carry out the other parts of the project mainly to prevent flooding. For example, the rainwater drainage in the neighborhood is disconnected from the sewer system and drained by road to rainwater buffers between the neighborhood and the Geleenbeek. The storage settling basin provides extra temporary collection of the sewage water from the mixed system during heavy showers.
To collaborate
There are about thirty to forty people working on the project every day. The cooperation and division between Strukton and Den Ouden of who does what is going very well. At the moment I work as a contractor for the mountain settling basin and the stream valley and Jasper Berger does that from Strukton for the reconstruction in the district. We will complete the project at the end of December. As far as I'm concerned, it would be nice if there were more joint works in the future. Our companies and people complement each other well.”
Need advice? Please contact Bart Couwenberg: b.couwenberg@denoudengroep.com
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