Delfts Bleau

Plywood, wood and nuts have been delivered.

We’ve been to Bleau to recharge our batteries and on the way home we’ve paid a visit to the second hall of Bloc’Out. This hall was supposed to be openend around March, but guess what, they’ve justed started with the building. We also visited the recently opened boulder hall Blocbuster where co-owner Sebastien has showed us around.

Last Tuesday we’ve started with the -preparations for the- building: workbenches, a table and the first part of the climbing wall. Erwin (Vertigo) and Frank (Axis) had help from Wouter, Jamie, Dick, Jonas, Ronald, Joran, Mazin and Jeroen. Thanks a million!

Today I leave for Innsbruck together with Sytse. to watch the World Cup, to meet with suppliers and to visit Boulderwelt in Munich and Kafé Kraft in Neurenburg for inspiration.

Frank’s on holiday next week. Erwin will be there as per Tuesday, which is when we set to work again. If you have the time and feel like helping out for an hour or more: you’re welcome!

The outline really starts to show now, last Thursday (26th) the concrete has been poured by van der Stap beton and the floor has been power floated to make it extremely smooth. This has taken them till late in the evening, after which the floor was covered with foil, to ensure it dries evenly.

While waiting for the floor to dry, Ronald and I have been busy selecting suppliers looking for the best price and quality and ordering the materials to build the bouldering walls and the dressing rooms. Starting this week the material will arrive, starting with the plywood from MPX on Monday. The rest of the wood from Heuvelman Hout arrives on Wednesday, well in advance, so Axis en Vertigo can start building the bouldering walls as per the 15th.

Before this, the largest part of the more than 250 plates of plywood need to be equipped with holes.. About 30.000 holes that is.. With this all help is welcome, so if you have some time Tuesday, Wednesday or next week starting Tuesday it would be great!

The fun part is almost there, the building starts the 15th!

It has been quiet for a while at the update front, not because nothing happened, but due to all the hard work there was no time left to keep you updated. The last update was posted over three weeks ago, way too long…

The hard work was mainly to meet the first deadline of the project: the cleaning of the ceiling and the steel construction. Over half a century of dust, grease and the build up of soot had to be cleaned before the guys from Van der Stap Beton started working at Wednesday April 18th. After three weeks of daily vacuuming and the last seven days working the ceiling with a high-pressure cleaner from dusk till dawn, we just met the deadline. Tuesday April 17th at 7.00 PM I cleaned the last tile, this would not have been possible without the help of Ronald, Sytse and Jolanda. Thanks guys!

Meanwhile, the plummer Marcel Wittenberg, has been busy installing the sewer, as this needed to be finished before starting with the concrete floor too.

On top of this Freesmij removed the bulge asphalt (sticking out above the rest of the floor), creating the first mountains in the hall. I largely underestimated the amount of asphalt, so the container brought by Sita was way to small. Fortunately the neighbor in the hall thought he could use it to pave his path at home with, meaning all of the asphalt is now gone.

In between we made some nice deals at the Delftse Beursvloer with School ‘s Cool, Joulz and BAM.

In the mean time the request for the permit is also finished. There was some additional information required, because there needs to be a building permit for the bouldering walls. Happily, we managed to convince the council that using the place as a bouldercenter does fit into the zoning plan, so that’s taken care of.

At the moment the guys from Van der Stap Beton are busy with their preparations: There has been a supply of 20m3 sand, which they used to level the floor. The formwork is ready and the isolation is placed. Today they laid the film and placed the wire-mesh reinforcement and the distributers for the underfloor heating. After laying the tubes for the underfloor heating tomorrow, the concrete floor can be poured, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Next on the program for this week is the translation of the planning into a form I can share with you. Through this site and through Facebook a lot of you offer their help, which is really great! I hope to make clear to you all what form of help is needed when, by publishing a planning.

And I will be, aided by Ronald’s expertise as a buyer, busy looking for suppliers for the required materials for the changing rooms, the bar and not to forget the bouldering walls!

The fun part is finally here: building! It’s really taking shape now and that’s super to watch! I’ll keep you posted and I will post a activity plan soon.

This is a status update filled with good news, there is not just a signed tenancy agreement and are we closing in on it’s commencing date, there is real action and a lot action! Sit down and relax, it’s a substantial story.

Since we are rapidly approaching the commencing date for the tenancy agreement and thus the start of the cleaning and building activities is coming up, it’s high time to call for your help. I’m busy looking for a way to organize your help, so you know what needs to be done and when and you can subscribe to activities you can and want to help with. Tips are welcome!

A large part of my past time has been filled with locating the sewer, caused by the lack of drawings of the building. In the end this quest resulted in a location to connect to the sewer! A detailed report will be available soon.

Next good news is the separation wall, which is as good as finished! The men from Dagemo managed to build the wall in a extreme short period! There are still some small holes to close at our side and the wall needs some final strokes at the other side, but it looks great and the space seems even bigger and to have more light as it already was!

Because all supply and drains are or will be delivered in a different spot than I assumed in the original lay-out, I had to make a different design with the architect. This design is finished in concept by now, new drawings will be available soon.

Based on the new design a definitive floor plan is made in consult with Frank ‘Axis’ Bogerman, as a basis for the concrete floor. The pouring of the concrete floor by Van der Stap Beton will be done in the first half of April. Before the concrete can be poured, a small area of asphalt needs to be removed, which will be done on April 3rd by Freesmij.

Last Monday I gave an explanation on the permit application together with the architect in a good and positive conversation with the civil servant in attendance. Coming Friday I get the results of the internal meeting at the municipality and what’s next, it’s looking very positive!

In the mean time I’ve started vacuuming the steel construction, there’s for over 50 years of (greasy) dust on there, so that’s a couple of cm thick..

The tenancy agreement for the space in the kabelfabriek is signed today! This sets the completion delivery to: April 1st! This means as of this date activities can start!

Last week the application for the permit is filed, so this is in progress aswell!

The first signature, a big milestone! This also means the work on the preparations that have to be made to the hall are resumed.

Last Thursday, January 26, the long awaited meeting with the fire department took place. During this meeting it soon became clear the main objections of the fire department were based on misunderstandings. These objections are now cleared!

All parties agree on the main malfunctions of the building and what measures are required to counter these. There has been decided to take these measures in steps. The measures required for the boulderhal will be taken in the first step.

This means we can finally sign the tenancy agreement early February!! Then we’ll know when the construction can be started!

We keep you posted!

There have been some preparation steps in December, the columns to build the separation wall have been set up and people have been busy searching for the course of the sewerage, so I can connect to it.

Photos of these preparations are online in Photos