Hospital of Charleroi, Belgium

The ‘Grand Hôpital’ in Charleroi is a new hospital that will bring together five existing hospitals on the Viviers site, an old coal mine northeast of Charleroi. With 900 beds, this new hospital will be one of the largest in Belgium. The 145,000 m² complex is built on a 17-hectare site. The underground car park offers space for 1,500 vehicles. Jan De Nul Group and subsidiary Soetaert are taking on this project together with Franki.

A unique concept: Five-star-hospital

The hospital will be a true eyecatcher in the city. The location of the site will definitely contribute to this, considering it is located on the crossing of two major traffic arteries (R30 and RN90). The floor plan of the ‘Grand Hôpital’ steps away from how everyday hospitals look. The plans are based on the hospital’s process logic. This results in five main departments:

The ‘hotfloor’ where the operating rooms, emergency room, and intensive care are located,
The ‘motel’ for short-stay in the care wards,
The ‘hotel’ for long-stay and the administrative department,
The ‘factory’ where all technical and logistic services are gathered,
The ‘polyclinic’ where consultations take place.

These departments will be grouped into four separate buildings. These are accompanied by an underground car park. The ensemble will make sure that patients and visitors are no longer overwhelmed by overly large hospitals and a maze of routes. Everything will be brought back to human size.

David Van Drooghenbroeck

Director of Institutional Affairs at Grand Hôpital de Charleroi

“Building the hospital of tomorrow, we are already doing that today together with Jan De Nul. I really appreciate the corporate culture and the hands-on mentality of Jan De Nul. They act quickly and pragmatically, think along, and strive for a solution for all parties.”

Millimetre planning with every step

Even though the site is 17 hectares large, it was tight to work sometimes. We deployed 15 tower cranes of which 13 were working simultaneously. To keep them constantly active, we used a working method that required precise organisation and planning.

The first task at hand for our subsidiary Soetaert was the foundation works. The 34-metre-deep basin filled with ‘schlamm’, a waste product from the coal mining industry, was not strong enough to support the complex. Therefore, Soetaert stabilised the subsoil by placing 187 Kelly piles, some up to 42 metres long. On top of that, about 2,600 vibro piles were installed that went to depths of 21 metres. The 33 mine shafts were also reused by turning them into foundation pits.

We did not wait until the foundation works were fully completed but we aimed for the highest productivity. As soon as the foundation at level -1 was finished, we immediately moved on to the next challenge: the major construction works. We chose to put the two tower cranes at the parking garage on rails. In doing so, they moved along as the construction progressed. Some cranes were also placed on patios to save space and be able to work smoothly. A fine example of efficiency at its best.

Benoit Decroty

Production Manager Civil Works Jan De Nul Group

"The four buildings and the parking garage together represent about 220,000 m² of poured floor slabs. This requires a lot of activity in a very small area. Every week, about 2,500 m³ of fresh concrete was poured. To organize this well, each building had to schedule its day in the week to pump the concrete."

Mission accomplished

Jan De Nul Group, Soetaert, and Franki faced a significant challenge when beginning this project. The new Grand Hôpital de Charleroi had to be completed in a time span of five years. And we succeeded with flying colours by finishing no less than six months sooner. How did we do this? By employing 20 project managers and at peak times 300 workers. The works started in February 2019 and the first departments were already in use by June 2024. The hospital will be fully operational by November 2024.