June 16, 2021 - the Beekse Bergen vacation park in Hilvarenbeek in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant is on fire. The main building burns to the ground. And this despite the fact that it had just been renovated for the summer season. A completely new building is inevitable. It had to be done quickly. And a solution that is as fireproof as possible must be found. Because something like this should not happen again.

The first ideas already emerged on the weekend after the fire: How could a new building be created that, on the one hand, accommodated a supermarket, swimming pool, snack bar, reception and entertainment room, and, on the other hand, fulfilled sustainability criteria. A few months later, in November 2021, construction could already begin: The vacation park operators had chosen Xella as their partner. Less than a year after the fire, on June 2, 2022, the new building could be opened. 1,800 square meters of Hebel autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) were used for all interior walls and inner shells.

Short construction time with Hebel AAC

Hebel autoclaved aerated concrete can be installed very quickly. The prefabricated aerated concrete elements have a maximum length of 6.75 meters. The system is completely prefabricated, which also means that fewer people are needed on the construction site. This shortens construction time and ensures less waste.

Fire-resistant material

Hebel AAC is non-combustible and fire-resistant. It retains its structural properties in the event of a fire and is fire resistant for at least 360 minutes. To ensure that the firewall remains intact between two fire compartments and prevents collapse, the panels were installed with fusible anchors. In the event of a fire, these anchors melt only on the fire side, so that only the steel structure collapses. The wall itself remains intact.

Other advantages of the material are its high thermal insulation and storage capacity. As a result, the indoor climate in the building is always pleasant, even on hot summer days.

Xella as a flexible partner

In the cooperation, Xella demonstrated a high degree of flexibility: although there were only rough sketches at the beginning and many things kept changing in the process, space was available in the factory for creating the building elements on the one hand and delivery was fast on the other. "Where you normally have to allow for a year and a half of construction time, we now managed to complete the conversion in six months thanks to optimal cooperation," says contractor Stef Goesten of Bouwgroep Goesten, who was responsible for the project, in praise of the achievement.