The roof is coming off!

One of the main parts of the renovation is raising the height of the central space of the school. This will provide more space and light, whilst maintaining the unique design of the building.

The idea behind increasing the height of the central space was ‘taking the roof off’ by lifting the wooden roof construction. This way, a support structure could be established, after which the roof could be placed at the new height. 

But how do you safely lift up an entire wooden roof? To achieve this, lifting specialists Wagenborg Nedlift were recruited to assist. Engineer Rob Reefman of Wagenborg’s expertise centre Wagenborg Engineering and work planner Auke Engelbertink put their heads together to look into the issue.

An action plan was established, in close collaboration with the construction specialists of Jansman Bouw. First, Jansman reinforced the roof with wooden reinforcement constructions. Meanwhile, the Wagenborg Nedlift team focused on the lifting method. Due to its unique design, the plan involved lifting the roof at 9 lifting points, to ensure the forces in the roof were always and well under control.

Wednesday November 4th was the big day when the thought process was put into practice. Wagenborg Nedlift brought its 400-ton mobile telescopic crane to the location to get the job done.

Exactly according to plan, the entire roof was safely lifted and subsequently left in mid-air for a while. This allowed for the support structure to be heightened. Somewhat later, the roof could be put back in the new, precisely corresponding, position.

Under supervision of the crane driver, councillor Erik van Beurden was given the honour to carry out this symbolic act.