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Without a time slot you cannot visit the depot

Donors, friends and guests with a privilege pass may book a single or multiple time slots here
Donors, friends and guests with a privilege pass may book a single or multiple time slots here

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Would you also like to experience more Boijmans or give a friendship as a gift? Join as a Friend and get invited for the annual Museumpark Vriendendag. Will we see you or your friend in the depot soon?

Word vriend
Read aloud

'It’s a joy to work here.’

In the Depot Journal we follow the progress of the building. The first issue featured a conversation with the architect Winy Maas; in the second issue we interviewed the technical engineers. In the meantime, the building has reached its highest point. In the third issue of the Depot Journal we ask the opinions of the people working on the site. How do they see the depot?

We recycle almost everything
Gino Niemeijer, Logistics Coordinator

We recycle almost everything

"I was one of the first here, in March 2017. And I’ll probably be one of the last to leave when the building is finished. Then we’ll hand the clean site back to the local authority. I’m responsible for supply chain management. And that covers a lot of ground – from the procurement of the materials, right down to the screws, to the removal of containers. We recycle at least 90% of all the materials here, even the concrete. The great thing about my job is the freedom and the contact with other people, at all levels. And obviously this depot is an unusual building, in terms of its design and, where we’re concerned, in its construction. Take the huge steel staircase, for example – it weighs eighteen tonnes. Getting it in place accurately and safely really was a tough job. Will I be attending the opening? You bet, if I get an invitation [he laughs]. And I’ll bring my daughters with me, because they think what we’re building here is fantastic too."

Shifting a tonne of steel a day
Patrick Hofland, Steel Braider

Shifting a tonne of steel a day

"When you pour concrete lots of people always come and watch, but they don’t when you braid steel. And afterwards our work can’t be seen. In that sense what we do is undervalued, but it really is extremely important. I’ve worked all over the Netherlands, and in Dubai and on Curaçao too. Wherever we go, we always make sure that the concrete is reinforced, strong enough to bear all loads. A nine-man team braids the steel into a kind of mat or net. Every day we actually shift one tonne of steel per head (that’s to say per man). Braiding steel is heavy work and you have to work fast, too. We have to complete each floor in three or four weeks. But I’ve still got enough energy to play tennis three times a week – I also play in competitions. I don’t know that much about the depot; I know that it’s for the art collection. We are busy here making ‘half a football’."

They listen better than in Amsterdam
Ans Heinsbroek, Traffic Controller

They listen better than in Amsterdam

"I’m here five mornings a week, from half past six until noon and sometimes longer if necessary. I have to make sure that site traffic comes and goes quickly and safely. There can sometimes be as many as forty trucks a day. And this is a busy street with lots of cyclists. Here in my own city it’s completely different from Amsterdam, where I’ve also been a traffic controller. Put it like this: they listen to me better in Rotterdam. It’s a joy to work here. In the two years I’ve been working at the depot people are beginning to recognize me; they say hello or sometimes have a chat. And tourists often ask me for directions. I’m not someone who sits indoors; an office job is not for me. I’m also outside a lot in my spare time; I work in the garden or enjoy walking in the Kralingse Bos. But although I’m an outdoor person, I’ll certainly come and take a look inside when the depot is finished."

A real eye-catcher
Ollie Pijfers, Fitter

A real eye-catcher

"Every working day I pick my colleagues up at half past five and we drive from Tiel to Rotterdam. As a fitter I do all sorts here – from sealing window frames to hanging mirror plates. They make the building. The mirrors are around 1.7 by 1.5 metres and weigh 200 kilos each. Two men in two tower wagons hang each mirror on brackets and secure them at four points. It’s precision work because there’s only a gap of two centimetres between the plates, a very small tolerance. This is a round building, and that makes the work far more difficult. The thing is that you only have a few right angles to get things level! Fortunately, the building is extremely well ‘engineered’. Of course, it’s a fantastic project to be working on. It will be a real eye-catcher. When the depot is finished and is shown on TV, I’ll be able to say, ‘Look, I made that’."

Great advertisement for BAM
Ruben Boogaard, Building Supervisor

Great advertisement for BAM

"I don’t do things myself; I make sure things get done. That’s my role here as the site foreman. It sounds crazy perhaps, but in terms of size the depot is a relatively small project for us at BAM Large Projects – but it is extremely complex. This is mainly because of the shape and construction of the building. Part of my job here is office work. Every day I sit in the site hut and manage the planning and coordination. Each morning I talk to the crane operator and the logistics coordinator about what’s happening that day. I also spend a lot of time carrying my iPad around the site. I have a 3D model of the entire depot on the tablet. Essentially, I have to make sure that that model is in fact being ‘rebuilt’ to scale. Of course, the depot is a prestige project, for BAM and for me personally. A great advertisement. This combination of a round shape, the aesthetics of the mirrors, and soon the roof with the trees on it… these are truly unique. I realize I’ll probably never see anything like it again."

Good, traditional carpentry
Kevin Krielaart, Carpenter

Good, traditional carpentry

"Most of what our team of carpenters does is the traditional construction of the shuttering for the concrete floors: laying lots of joists and sawing sheets. We use ‘Dokas’. These are I-shaped joists which are nailed. No, we never use screws because they don’t give; they shear if the sheets move. Nailing means a lot of hammering. We do this by hand; it’s just as quick as using a machine. We also help to erect the scaffolding. It’s good to know that we always dismantle the material when we’ve finished something and reuse it for the next (higher) floor. We use around 28,000 kilos of wood for each floor, so dismantling is heavy work – it certainly was in the summer of 2018. Sometimes the temperature in the building rose to 50 degrees. In my spare time my family and I have restored an old cargo ship, a ‘Sintelaak’. So carpentry’s my work and my hobby too."

Depot Journal

This article has been published before in Depot Journal #2 which is part of a series of six. If you would like to the online Depot journals, please send an email to info@boijmans.nl