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Dismantling temporary courthouse is precision work

Meccano

Robert Seinen points towards the space between two sections of floor. ‘These seams would normally be poured full of concrete and then reinforcement steel would be added’, says the foreman from construction group Groothuis. ‘The result would be a floor that would not be easy to dismantle. Here, however, the floor sections are connected by hooks and bolts. It’s actually very ingenious: it’s really simple to take apart and you can also put it back together easily.’ It sounds a little like Meccano, the assembly toy that can be used to make a wide variety of structures. ‘That’s right’, laughs Seinen, ‘but in this case, there’s no manual.’

Kennispark Twente

The temporary courthouse in Fred. Roeskestraat has now largely been dismantled. The insides have been removed and Groothuis, together with Lagemaat from Heerde, has already started to dismantle the frontage. This is a far from easy job, because the whole building will soon need to be put back together at Kennispark Twente, a high-tech campus in Enschede. ‘We’re reusing a substantial part of the building’, says Seinen. ‘That means the façades, window frames, walls and entire steel structure. Since there’s little we can do with the plaster boards or minor installations, we’re having them recycled.’

Pioneering

Around 50 trucks have already been filled with material that can be recycled. Seinen expects to fill another 60 or so in the period ahead. The components are going to temporary depots first. ‘The sequence of dismantling and associated logistics are the main challenge’, according to Seinen. He shows us a lorry packed with timber frame panels that were part of the frontage. ‘The last things I want here are panel walls that belong on the other side of the building. The trick will be knowing exactly how everything fits together at the other end. We need to rebuild it in exactly the opposite sequence.’ This is the first time that Seinen has worked on a job like this. He calls it pioneering. ‘It takes some getting used to: when you demolish something, you make a mess, but in this case, you need to keep things as tidy as possible.’

Capable of being dismantled and reassembled

Completed in 2015, the temporary courthouse was one of the Netherlands’ first ever circular buildings. For a five-year period, it housed part of the Amsterdam district court, which relocated to a new home in the spring of 2021. ‘The building will soon be reassembled piece-by-piece in Enschede, but the inside will be completely different. It was especially designed with that in mind’, explains Seinen as we tour the building. ‘The lift shafts and stairwells are all located on the sides and the building has very few columns. That leaves you with all kinds of options for the layout.’ It is highly likely that the building will be used as an office.

Cells for sale

In the basement, there are still 33 solid detention cells. They have thick metal doors and tiny windows and the walls on the inside are covered in scrawled comments and drawings. ‘They’re for sale’, says Seinen. ‘Perhaps they could be used as an escape room? We can’t find a taker for them in this form in Twente. Although it strikes me as a good idea to put one of the cells in the main entrance of the new building.’ Another leftover is on the third floor, where a footbridge connects the old courthouse to Parnassusweg. Seinen: ‘That wasn’t supposed to be included in the move either, but there are now plans to use it to connect between buildings at Kennispark in Enschede.’

The block of cells will not be relocating

Construction traffic

Dismantling work on the temporary courthouse is likely to last until the summer. Until the end of March, the timber frame wall panels will be removed from the frontage followed by the steel structure and floors in late March. In order to limit disruption to the local area, the arriving and departing construction traffic is taking different routes. It arrives at the courthouse via a ramp and departs through Fred. Roeskestraat. Transport movements are restricted to off-peak periods.

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