Above the Brittenpassage, it’s all about the details

After years of construction, the moment is suddenly very close: in just five months’ time, passengers will be boarding trains and metro services via the brand-new Brittenpassage. That does not mean the teams from construction consortium Nieuw-Zuid (BCNZ, consisting of Mobilis, Boskalis and Van Gelder) can take it easy during these final months. There is still plenty to do, particularly when it comes to finishing work. ‘Details, details, details’, laughs Rodney Ikelaar when he tells us about the work that still needs to be completed. ‘Think about finishing the platform paving, making sure every corner and connection is exactly right. We will also be testing installations. I could go on for quite a while. Yes, we will be busy throughout the summer.’

The same applies to the so-called roof lights. These large dome skylights between the metro tracks allow plenty of natural daylight into the new passage. Ikelaar shows them to us from above – at first glance, they may not seem particularly unusual. ‘The glass panels are curved, creating the dome shape. But would you believe me if I told you the glass arrived completely flat?’ Ikelaar explains how the panels were installed: BCNZ first constructed the steel framework, after which the so-called cold-bent glass was curved on site using tensile force and secured within the frame. ‘The outside temperature had to be at least 15 degrees Celsius, otherwise the glass could crack. Most of us had never seen glass being bent on a construction site before. We stood there watching in amazement.’

We continue upwards onto the platform canopies. At the top of the steep construction staircase, we find a striking green strip stretching across the roof. ‘We certainly haven’t been resting on our laurels since installing the metro platform canopies’, says Ikelaar, noticing our surprise. ‘We have installed solar panels here and created green roofs. Later, we will do exactly the same on top of the railway platform canopies. The roofs help to slow down rainwater drainage and improve biodiversity. They also help to reduce heat stress.’ Bringing all the solar panels and planting materials to the site was no easy task, Ikelaar adds. ‘Now that the new metro platforms are almost complete, there is hardly any construction space left above the Brittenpassage. We have to be extremely careful with everything we bring onto the site.’

The area now occupied by the new metro platforms used to be a large sand-filled construction site. Located between the metro and railway tracks, it was used, among other things, to prefabricate sections of the Brittenpassage roof. The narrow construction entrance from the Parnassusweg to this construction site will soon disappear. ‘We are already extending the North/South line tracks beyond the Parnassusweg, in case the line is extended to Schiphol in the future’, Ikelaar points out. ‘With every extra section of track laid towards the Parnassusweg, the construction site becomes smaller. That is quite a challenge. These final months require us to be particularly creative with the available space.’

The Brittenpassage is an essential part of the large-scale regeneration of Amsterdam Zuid station, which has been operating beyond its capacity for many years. With the opening of the additional passenger tunnel, travellers will once again have access to a modern station environment. The passageway will include a bicycle parking facility with space for 2,000 bicycles, as well as escalators and lifts providing direct access to the platforms. The 15-metre-wide passageway will also offer a wide range of shops. As soon as the Brittenpassage opens, the existing passenger tunnel – the Minervapassage – will close for several years for a major refurbishment. In the future, the Minervapassage will be more than three times wider (from 12 to 40 metres) and almost twice as high (from 2.5 to 4 metres) as it is today.