Bam car park collapse agreement

An agreement for a financial settlement has been reached over the partial collapse of a parking garage at Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands.

The airport and Dutch-based construction company Bam said they had reached an agreement for the financial settlement of the incident which occurred on 27 May, 2017, but said they had agreed not to reveal further details.

There were no casualties as a result of the incident.

The parking garage was constructed by Bam using BubbleDeck floors, which consist of precast concrete floor slabs and contain weight-saving plastic bubbles. After being installed on site, they were topped with concrete. An investigation showed the shear strength of the interface between the precast concrete floor slabs was insufficient to convey the traction, causing the structural capacity of the floor to be compromised.

High ambient temperatures on the day of the collapse were also considered to be a contributing factor.

At the beginning of April 2018, Bam started rebuilding the parking garage, and completion is scheduled for October 2019.

Joost Meijs, CEO of Eindhoven Airport, said, “We are pleased that with this agreement we can end our discussions about the financial settlement and we can focus on the future.”

Jaap Hazeleger, director of Bam Bouw en Techniek, said, “The settlement fits within the provision made by Bam in the fourth quarter of 2017. The rebuilding is progressing well.”