Text: Jan Mol Image: Jan Mol/MCB Preservations/SealteQ
BERGHAREN AS A FOCAL POINT FOR FIRE-RESISTANT COATINGS
When North and South meet, something beautiful is created. MCB Conserveringen BV had been looking for expansion for some time. The SealteQ Group from Stadskanaal was looking for collaborations that would offer them more spread across the country. A successful joint project finally resulted in a partnership that fulfills the wishes of both companies. This manifested itself nicely in the middle of the country, in Arnhem. “MCB Preservations had taken on the Arnhem Station project and SealteQ performed the work on site as a subcontractor,” Heidy Moors opens the conversation.
Moors, director and owner of MCB Preservings, knows the ropes. In 1996 she joined Moors Constructie en machinebouw Bergharen BV as an employee. In 2005 she and her brother Barry Moors got the shares of the company. Since then Barry is owner of Moors Constructie en Machinebouw Bergharen BV and Heidy owner of MCB Conserveringen BV. Since January 2015, the SealteQ Group has a fifty percent stake in MCB Conserveringen BV.
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN FIRE-SAFE THANKS TO COOPERATION
Meanwhile at the table joins Paul Besseler, project manager at MCB Preservations/SealteQ. “Our strength lies in the combination of ‘in shop‘ preservation and on-site,” he says. “About 25 percent of our assignments consist of applying fire-resistant coatings. In 2008, the RUG came into the picture with an order to apply 25,000 m² of fire-resistant coating. Initially, the client wanted to do this ‘in shop’. During assembly, however, it turned out that there was a lot of damage. Then they looked for a party that could apply the coating on site. That was SealteQ.”
‘It is literally vitally important to meet the requirements in the building code,’
Moors adds, “Time is not given in projects like this. You have to plan very tightly, taking all kinds of disciplines into account. In Groningen, a steel support structure had to be sprayed on site; it remained in view. To do something like that, the space has to be completely taped off and wind and watertight.” Occasionally, one faces enormous challenges from others. Says Besseler, “A carpenter who quietly starts working in a space where you just sprayed and the coating isn’t dry yet. Then you do have a problem.”
Project steel structure RUG (Groningen), Voortman steel construction, fire-resistant coating of main supporting structure Center for Life Sciences Groningen. PPG/Sigma Steelguard FM and Topcoat.
CERTIFIED CRAFTSMANSHIP IS THE STANDARD
“We provide warranty on request and in cooperation with our suppliers under VVVF conditions. We only work with renowned brands such as Akzo, Hensel, Sika and PPG,” Moors continues her story. Regarding fire-resistant coatings, Besseler says, “Our fire-resistant coatings must meet the 30, 60, 90 or 120-minute requirement, on steel. We work with fire-resistant coatings that meet national and inter-national standards. Our personnel apply the coating in layers with extreme precision, always measuring in between. The supplier of the coating can inspect this during the process. After the final inspection, the client receives a certificate of fire resistance upon approval.”
All the measurements result in a considerable amount of documentation. Besseler: “The 25,000 m² in Groningen alone produced an entire filing cabinet of documents.” Moors adds, “Ovehead costs in this type of project are very high because of preparation and research. That’s why we always advocate buying all coating services from one source, because that way you can guarantee fire safety down to the smallest detail.”
Besseler concludes, “It is literally vital that you meet the requirements in the building code. Every profile needs its own layer thickness of fire-resistant coating, because every profile is different. We guarantee everything in consultation with the paint supplier. They take responsibility for the operation and layer thickness calculation of the fire-resistant coating, we for the application of minimum layer thickness.”
SPECIALTY: FIREPROOFING TREATMENT OF CONCRETE
Moors: “We not only coat objects made of metal. As a result of a fire in a parking garage in Rotterdam, which threatened collapse, the municipality of Emmen imposed additional fire-resistant requirements for the new construction of a parking garage. We had to apply a fire-resistant coating to the underside of the hollow-core slab floor. That is specialist work.