Demolition and asbestos removal of 600 homes in the Afrikaanderwijk
- Client
- City of Rotterdam
- Location
- Afrikaanderwijk, Rotterdam
- Year
- 2022
About the project
In the Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam, DCC fully completed the demolition and asbestos removal of approximately 600 homes — together accounting for some 60,000 m² of gross floor area. We started with the asbestos removal and strip-out of the first homes in the neighbourhood. A complex project, given the busy surroundings and the phased release of the homes.
Once nearly all homes had been released, the client asked us to demolish all of them as quickly as possible. We switched gears immediately: every day, two long-reach demolition excavators, three crawler excavators of 30 to 50 tonnes and a wheeled excavator were deployed to meet this ambitious schedule. The major effort paid off — all available homes were demolished within the agreed schedule.
Managing the surroundings
The Afrikaanderwijk is one of the busiest inner-city areas of Rotterdam. Managing the surroundings was therefore a key theme throughout the project: vibration, noise, dust and traffic disruption were explicitly accounted for, based on a clear project plan drawn up and executed in consultation with the client.
In addition, together with the structural engineer, a plan was made for reinforcing homes and maintaining buffer buildings, so that adjacent properties could be demolished with due care.
Circular
Alongside safety, circularity is a key pillar at DCC: on every job we look for the most circular option available. In the Afrikaanderwijk we first made an inventory of the raw materials that would be released during demolition. Nearly all structural elements — timber beams from the floor sections, steel beams from the balconies and foundations — were reused one-to-one. The bricks from the homes were collected and stacked on pallets; they are being used for new construction and renovation of buildings.
In addition, several roof windows, doors, floorboards, fencing and roof tiles were dismantled and transported to private individuals, giving them a second life.
Quality requirements
The work was carried out in accordance with the following certificates:
- VCA-P
- NEN-EN-ISO 9001 & NEN-EN-ISO 14001
- Dutch process certificate for asbestos removal
- BRL SVMS-007 safe and environmentally sound demolition
- CO₂ awareness certificate level 3
- Milieubarometer certificate
