Volume 5, Issue 2 June 2020

ReportFrom IPA’s Europe Regional Office
Toshifumi Shiomi
General Manager, Giken Europe B.V.

The IPA Regional Office in Europe is in Giken Europe B.V., the subsidiary of GIKEN LTD. in Japan who is an IPA corporate
member. Giken Europe B.V. is currently in the midst of the construction of a new office and factory in order to strengthen
its abilities of promotions and total customer support. The completion is scheduled for August 2020 which will allow theactivities of the IPA regional office in the region to be boosted along with the completion. In recent years,countermeasures such as reconstruction, reinforcement, and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure have been taken
around the world due to rise of the sea level caused by climate change. In the Netherlands, in order to protect the country
from the rise of its sea level and flooding, the National Flood Control Program (Delta Program) and bank rehabilitation
projects (countermeasures against aging) under the jurisdiction of each local government have been in progress for rivers
and canals.
In recent times, reinforcing those earth retaining dykes that are
structurally fragile have become an urgent need to prevent natural
disasters. There are various reinforcement methods inconstruction, but steel sheet pile walls are also introduced as acommon method. (See Fig. 1). However, due to the rapid
urbanization in modern times in the Netherlands, an enormous
amount of time is required for construction planning, assessmentsof various environmental impacts, and consensus forming withneighborhoods and other related procedures before the actual
construction works begin if the reinforcement works are plannedby conventional structural design and construction methods. Thisis especially for cases such as dykes that are used as traffic road on
their tops, congested areas with housing, and historical buildings.
In addition, environmental protection directives under EU law
should be considered in actual construction sequences. Various
approaches including R.F.P. (Request for Proposals) for abreakthrough solution against the current problems are being
examined.

Outside the dyke

Inside the dyke

Weak layer

AnchoringStability

Sand
Alternative locations(in the cross section)

Fig. 1. Steel Sheet Pile Wall
Source:https://www.betonvereniging.nl/medi
a/16090/eemdijkproef-arny-lengkeek.pdf

A new initiative called “Innovation Partnership” was called for tender by the Municipality of Amsterdam in 2018. Themunicipality owns and manages a 400-year-old network bridges and quays which are vulnerable due to advanced age.
Erosion & scouring of wooden piles has led to a number of concerns of dyke stability in recent years and urgent repair isrequired to keep the city functioning and safe. The municipality, moving away from traditional approaches put a call out
for innovations which could shorten construction times and minimize environmental impacts while protecting thecityscape. The Gyropress™ method and GRB™System that was proposed by “G-Kracht Partners” including Giken EuropeB.V. have been won high praise and the partners officially awarded the project on 13th May 2020 with highest rating of all
the tenderers.
Reference: Giken Ltd Awarded First Place in City of Amsterdam Innovation Partnership Quay Wall Project
The aforementioned case introduced will expand the opportunities for IPA to disseminate press-in engineering, discover
new technical issues, and clarify research issues. It is necessary to grow the presence of the IPA in this region with thesupport of its directors and members and build a common understanding of press-in engineering and its superiorities in
the construction industry. In addition, it is expected that more academia and researchers will participate in the IPA which
will boost the promotion of press-in engineering, strengthen the dissemination of technical information, and expand theopportunities for research outcomes and case studies in this region.

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