Anyone who works with soil and recycled material knows the problem: wet material is slow material. It does not dry, it weighs too much, and it is hard to screen and separate. And every rain shower throws your planning off course. At the ABR site in Grimbergen, that problem has now been solved across more than 20,000 m².
The challenge: keeping large volumes dry and separated
ABR (All Belgian Recycling), part of the De Meuter group, processes considerable volumes of soil and recycled material at its site in Grimbergen. Those volumes are stored in large concrete bays, neatly separated by fraction. The only problem: in the open air, every bay changes with the weather.
The brief to Vermako was clear. Cover those concrete bays without compromising operations on site. That required three things at once:
- Large spans, because columns between the bays are unworkable for trucks and bulldozers
- Sufficient ventilation, because trapped moisture solves nothing
- A cost that reflects storage capacity, not office construction
The solution: arched roof structures with translucent film cladding
Vermako built more than 20,000 m² of cover with arched roof structures and translucent film cladding. With spans of more than 30 metres, the existing concrete bays could be fully covered, without intermediate supports on the work floor.
The sides were partly left open. That is not a cost saving, it is a design choice: natural ventilation removes moisture, so soil actually dries instead of just sitting there. The translucent cladding does the rest. During the day, work in the bays is done in daylight, without the lights on.
Robust, scalable and cost-effective, fully tailored to the requirements of the client, De Meuter.
Concrete gains for ABR
- More than 20,000 m² of additional covered storage capacity
- All-season storage and processing of soil
- More efficient site organisation and processing of larger volumes
- Clear working height and clear span for trucks and bulldozers
- Natural daylight throughout the entire cover
The customer’s view
What this project teaches about covers in the recycling sector
A recycling site is not a building site you can shut down for a while. Trucks and bulldozers keep driving, material is stored and processed. A cover has to be added on top of all that without blocking operations, and it has to grow with the volumes.
Three things determine whether that works:
- The span determines your operations, not your budget. As soon as you put columns in the work area, you lose manoeuvring space for the life of the building. Choose the span based on your machines, not on the cheapest quote.
- Ventilation is a production argument. A closed shed keeps the rain out and the moisture in. With soil and aggregates, drying is part of the process. Partly open sides are the better technical choice here.
- Film cladding makes a difference in the business case. An arched roof structure with film cladding delivers a fundamentally different cost per square metre of covered storage than a classic industrial hall in steel and concrete. For storage and processing, that is the difference between covering and not covering.
Facing a similar challenge?
Do you store large volumes in the open air and lose capacity because of the weather? Or are you stuck on spans that a conventional builder cannot handle? Vermako designs, produces and installs custom industrial covers for recycling, industry, agriculture and horticulture. Everything in-house.
👉 View the full ABR Grimbergen project
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Also read the customer story of Leybaert BV: from tight capacity to a 7,200 m² logistics hall.