A high speed worksite.

Works: Railway Station

Location: Liege, Belgium

Project features: the new railway station in Liege - Gare Guillemins - is also a connection point for the TGV (high speed train) which links France, Belgium and Germany. The project was designed by Santiago Calatrava and is located next to the old station, which was demolished to make room for the new construction. All the works were done in fair-faced white concrete. This is an exceptional project in terms of prestige, size and projctual characteristics, which engaged ALPI in the development of innovative solutions. In particular, it was decided to combine in-situ casting with prefabricated components. ALPI delivered all the formwork required to create the fair-faced concrete finish, in particular straight, circular and shaped MECCANO formwork. The MECCANO system was also used to build formwork for prefabricated "fair-faced" elements. The ORTHOPLUS propping was also supplied. All the prefabricated lamellas, also made using the MECCANO system, were positioned on site and joined by in-situ casting. The design was developed fully on site, in order to assure a real-time response to the particular needs of the project. This assured great advantages for the client, in particular linked to the possibility to rapidly solve any problems which emerged during construction, thanks to the constant, daily contact with the ALPI technical assistance team. A further advantage was offered by the flexibility of the MECCANO system, which can be adapted to specific design needs without the use of many special pieces, reducing both design and production times. The formwork components were pre-assembled, in order to avoid the interference of any bad weather conditions, making the final assembly on site fast and safe.