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Platform for the management and construction of sports and golf courses
Works on the park at Gedempte Zuiderdokken started late last year. The revamped site will have two major functions: parking underground and a park above ground, accounting for 32,000 m² of additional green space. For the reuse of rainwater for the trees in the park, the expertise of TerraViva, specialists in softening and ride-on lawn
Together, the Gedempte Zuiderdokken form an elongated square in the south of Antwerp, parallel to the Scheldt bank. It is a beautiful open space, which was used as a huge car park. Useful, but also a missed opportunity. Under the name ‘Dok Zuid’, this area is being transformed into a versatile visitor attraction. With an underground car park and an above-ground park, the new square has two major functions. Works to construct the park were started at the end of last year.
With this project, the city of Antwerp wants, among other things, to respond to the challenges of the future, such as the expected more frequent and intense rainfall and higher risks of flooding. The final design finalised and elaborated the water concept: water can easily seep into the ground, a crate system irrigates the trees, there are rainwater cisterns, the gardens and grassy meadow serve as water buffers, water is reused for play and for buffering water in the wadis.
The system for reusing rainwater to irrigate the trees was devised by Tractebel Engineering. Acterra nv is responsible for supplying the substrates. “Thanks to an intense collaboration between Dockx & Co and Acterra - producer of TerraViva substrates - we were able to win the order for delivery,” says manager Bart Geerts.
Acterra specialises in the production of plant substrates for, among other things, underground growth spaces for trees in urban areas. Bart Geerts: “Below the entire surface is a 10 cm thick buffer basin. By means of 8 cm high retention crates, the collected rainwater is drawn upwards via wicks. Above the blades is a geotextile that allows water to spread horizontally, and on that geotextile are then our soil substrates. And those substrates pull up just enough water to feed the trees, but also leave enough oxygen in the soil for the trees to root and grow.”
For Acterra, this is a bespoke project. “It is also a particularly large project, and obviously technically challenging. The art consists in putting the substrates together in the right way. And therein lies our unique expertise. Of course, a lot of thinking and testing goes into this. The system to feed trees in this way has existed for some time, but it is the composition of the substrates that makes the system even more efficient”, concludes Bart Geerts.
