Client: Associations of Co-owners Hertogenpark
Location: Antwerp
Timing: 2020-2021
Status: realized (2021)
Technical advice I Expertise I Audit I Feasibility study
Inspection of a natural stone and concrete façade of a high-rise residential block with 134 apartments.
The Hertogenpark residential block in Antwerp designed by architect Walter Bresseleers dates from the early 1980s. It contains 16 storey apartments of various types. The ground floor plinth houses offices and two underground floors. The façade is executed with a cladding in white marble in which recurrent pathologies are visible, essentially bent panels. Damage is also visible on the concrete terraces and parapets.
Inspection
Bureau Bouwtechniek identified the defects through a random inspection of the façade: both of what is visible from the public area and from the terraces of a significant number of apartments. The visual inspection was supplemented by a review of the available plan and detail material so that the implementation details could be determined.
Analysis
A literature review into the cause of the scaling of the natural stone panels provided a risk analysis into possible subsequent damage. The options for thorough cleaning of the natural stone, and the effect this may have on scaling and non-scaling panels, were also investigated.
In addition to the natural stone, attention was also paid to the concrete elements such as the parapet for the terraces, the on-site poured terrace floors and, to a lesser extent, the elastic joints between the natural stone elements. The damage patterns were mapped and analyzed.
Renovation scenarios
Based on the analysis, several scenarios were developed for a facade renovation of the building. Finally, the technical principles of a conservation option were indicated, as well as those for an energetic renovation of the different shell parts, in order to avoid cold bridges. For each of these options, details were outlined in principle, a plan of approach was provided for further elaboration, and a first rough estimate of the cost price for these works was given.
BB team: ir. arch. Arno Van Hulle