Following several years of construction Jansen Group has officially opened the high-tech AZ Sint-Maarten hospital, in Mechelen, Belgium.
“We turned the empty building shell into a functional, ultramodern hospital,” said Nadia Jansen, CEO of Jansen Group.
The Limburg, Belgium-based construction company was responsible for the entire interior finishing of this new hospital.
AZ Sint-Maarten now has all of its healthcare facilities concentrated in one location. The building is 105,000 m2, has 654 beds and accommodates 1700 staff.
According to Peter Lowist, COO of Building Group Jansen, with this project and the corresponding set-up of a number of cleanrooms - Jansen Group has reinforced its position as an expert in the healthcare sector.
Lowist commented that: “In a lot of the areas there are strict conditions with regard to hygiene, airtightness, pressure differences, etc. The finishing of the hospital pharmacy and the operating theatres deserve a special mention.”
“From ceilings, floors and furniture to details such as handles, wall protection and floor mats. In the building we used 150,000 m2 interior walls, 600,000 m2 plasterboard panels, 450,000 running metres of profiles, more than 6000 interior doors and 525,000 screws. At peak times more than thirty carpenters were working at the same time. Each piece of furniture – from a simple cabinet to the complete fittings of the nursing stations - was drawn and fitted on the construction site down to the last screw,” explained Lowist.
Jansen Group worked in a joint venture together with construction company MBG, together with architectural firm VK A&E. For the first time the trio implemented the much-discussed Building Information Model (BIM) working method within a large-scale project.
“With BIM a number of construction partners work together in a clear 3D model. The partners contribute continuously to the plan so that you as architect, building developer or (sub)contractor are always working on an up-to-date version. Moreover, the system indicates possible errors when parties want to set up conflicting actions. By avoiding misunderstandings in advance digitally, you avoid errors on site,” said Danny Jacobs, project manager, Jansen Group.
