As one of the largest locks in the world, the new lock will be 427 meters long, 55 meters wide, and 16.4 meters deep. In 2023, the New Lock Terneuzen, Netherlands will accommodate larger vessels and enlarge capacity along the important shipping route between Paris and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam–Paris Inland Waterway route is one of the busiest navigated canals and an important connection for the economy of Europe. The New Lock ensures a smoother passage of inland vessels between the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, as well as providing a more robust lock complex for seagoing vessels.

Overcoming Challenges with BIM

The project poses several technical challenges, with many different complex operations being undertaken simultaneously. One of the greatest challenges that this project presents is that the waterway needs to remain operational during construction. The Middle Lock will remain open for the majority of the construction period. During this time, a temporary navigation channel will be in use. In order to manage all the concurrent activities on this project, BIM was adopted as the most efficient working method for coordinating the works and collaborating between different parties in every construction phases.

The complex operations on this project meant that there was little room for errors and undertaking re-work. To overcome this, Sassevaart implemented Allplan Bimplus for the reinforcement process – from the design until and realization – to enable the teams to work as efficiently as possible. This allows the entire project team to easily review the reinforcement designs and provide feedback, as well as assign and track tasks for efficient change management.

Silvy Santosa, BIM Specialist at BAM Infraconsult, says:“We gain time, efficiency, and accuracy by working collaboratively within one BIM model and gathering and sharing the information in the same platform, while also avoiding the loss of information. Therefore, creating and managing the information within our BIM model across the project lifecycle is the key to successfully delivering this project – hence why ALLPLAN’s digital platform, Allplan Bimplus, had such an important role in our 3D reinforcement process”, adds Silvy Santosa.

Allplan Bimplus enables all project participants to access a central BIM model and optimize their own processes accordingly. This gives the entire team a better overview. Clashes in reinforcement can be identified and addressed much earlier. In addition, sequencing, logistics and health and safety requirements can be better integrated into the planning. While the construction process is still underway, Allplan Bimplus has already proven itself as an integral part of project management.

More about the Lock Terneuzen: https://nieuwesluisterneuzen.eu