1. The project: HeidelbergCement

The head office of one of the world’s largest cement companies covers an impressive 49,000m². Byldis made the precast facade elements for the building that houses 1000 employees. Our first project in Germany as Byldis! A truly prestigious project!

2. Byldis contribution to this project

Byldis produced the single-scale concrete facade for HeidelbergCement. In total this consisted of approx. 1000 bright white facade elements with special and complex shapes.

3. Why was Byldis chosen?

Byldis was chosen for the HeidelbergCement project due to the high quality demands for the elements. The complex design of the building and the experience Byldis has with similar projects in this field are also reasons that Byldis was chosen.

Furthermore, the building is also unique in terms of colour. It is bright white! The white colour of the facade elements was achieved by using white cement with TX Active®. TX Active® breaks down NOx through integrated photocatalysis. The presence of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in cement with TX Active® ensures that pollutants in the air are broken down by a photocatalytic reaction. It extracts nitrogen oxides from the air, which is beneficial for both humans and the environment. Photocatalysis is a natural phenomenon whereby the presence of light (UV-rays) causes a photocatalyst to increase the speed of a chemical reaction. The titanium dioxide plays the role of catalyst here and can repeat the reaction process over and over again.

4. Challenges & solutions

Automated reinforcement
Several facade elements were not only curved, but also designed as corner elements. Applying pre-production and advanced engineering for the reinforcement, we made maximum use of automated reinforcement components from the reinforcement machine in our own factory.

Homogenous and dense
The client’s objective was to realise facade elements with a structure as homogenous and dense as possible. This meant as few pores as possible in the concrete. So we started by carefully thinking about the interplay of forces between the water cement factor, workability, water, cement and excipient. Byldis eventually found the right balance by lowering the water cement factor and achieved better workability by using excipients. The quality of the raw materials was especially important in order to achieve the right homogeneity in terms of colour of the elements. We did not want to see a difference between elements produced now and those produced in a few months’ time, as they could quite easily be installed next to each other in the facade. Throughout the entire production phase, we therefore carefully controlled the clarity of the concrete. It was agreed with the client that the clarity of the concrete surface would not drop below a value of 85. This was checked by measuring the clarity of the concrete surface after each element had dried, using a special 3D camera. 

Ornamental concrete
However, these elements had to be handled with extra care due to the bright white colour. We wanted them to stay really white. People are normally allowed to touch the concrete in the factory, but this time there were warning signs with the message: ‘Beware, ornamental concrete’.

Special shapes
The canopy elements at the entrance to the building are exceptional in terms of shape. This non-standard shape presented several challenges throughout the process. The architect provided the main shape of the awning element from the design model as an IFC file. Byldis Engineering imported this geometry into Tekla and then processed the awning element so that it was feasible in terms of technical production. The team communicated using the 3D models. The structural engineer’s reinforcement principle was translated into a complete reinforcement model for the reinforcement mesh. This was then used to automatically control the machine for the production of the reinforcement. These three special awning elements were fitted into place at the entrance to the HeidelbergCement building in December 2019, thus completing the building.

5. Facts & figures

6. Footage

7. More information about HeidelbergCement

In the news

• "Byldis participates in construsoft tekla bim awards 2020." 18-05-2020. Source: Byldis.
• "Byldis Prefab makes special element for HeidelbergCement head office." 20-12-2019. Source: Byldis

More information

• https://www.heidelbergcement.be/nl