In Eikstraat in Oostakker, Flanders and the city of Ghent are building an emergency village for about 600 Ukrainian refugees. For this emergency village of (for now) 50 residential units, the city of Ghent, acting as the developer, enlisted the expertise of contractor Krinkels, among others. Krinkels approached Deschacht for the delivery of the necessary materials.
Complete emergency village
Over the past few months, hard work has taken place on a site of approximately 3.5 hectares in Oostakker to build a complete emergency village for Ukrainian refugees. “The preparatory work—leveling and earthworks—was completed in early 2023,” says Dirk Stuyven, Head of Study Service and Engineering Flanders at Deschacht. “For the site preparation, including the installation of sewers and other utilities, we were contacted by contractor Krinkels to help design a solid sewerage and drainage plan. We have been working together successfully for many years, which allowed us to act quickly in fine-tuning the plan and providing the necessary materials.”
Act quickly
That quick turnaround was definitely necessary, because the delivery deadline was very tight. That is confirmed by Maxim Lissens, site manager at Krinkels. “We had barely three to four months, from preparation to delivery. Fortunately, there were no specific challenges or bottlenecks on this site, which allowed us to work through it smoothly. Krinkels was responsible for, among other things, the installation of sewage and rainwater drainage, electrical cabling, water buffering, and various aspects of landscaping, such as seeding green areas, providing paving between the residential units, and installing the necessary lighting. Based on the site layout plan, these activities went very smoothly.”
Smooth collaboration
The smooth execution was not only thanks to the years of experience and expertise of the Krinkels team, but also to the excellent collaboration with Deschacht. “Within our company, our colleague Giuseppe Pulvirenti, as a sales representative for sewerage and drainage, has been Krinkels” fixed contact person for three years,“ Dirk indicates. ”This personal approach ensures that we can accurately assess which materials Krinkels needs and when. A major asset for this project was that we were able to respond very quickly from our office in Oostakker – which is right near the site.“ Maxim confirms that the collaboration with Deschacht went very smoothly. ”Deschacht has been one of our regular suppliers for years, providing PVC pipes among other things. They always manage to deliver all materials quickly, and that was the case this time as well. This enabled us to meet the set deadlines, with May 10, 2023 as the opening day of the emergency village."
Top-quality materials
For the executed work, Krinkels placed a large order for various materials with Deschacht. “Think, for example, of conduit pipes, PVC sewer pipes—with a diameter of 90 to 400 mm—infiltration crates for rainwater buffering, and manhole covers,” Maxim indicates. “With a supplier like Deschacht, we are always guaranteed to have high-quality materials that, moreover, are delivered correctly and quickly.”
