Soil remediation in Teylers Hofje

Teylers Hofje was founded in 1787 from the estate of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, a wealthy Haarlemmer who traded in silk. He earmarked his court for single “honorable” ladies over the age of 70. Today, single ladies with modest incomes still live there, as in earlier times, only the minimum age has been lowered to 50.

The courtyard has 24 houses surrounding a courtyard garden with a water pump and a lawn. It was on this lawn that laundry was dried and bleached in those days. The houses have only one room with a bedstead wall containing a bedstead and a built-in closet. There is also a staircase upstairs to a storage room. The entrance to the court consists of an impressive gatehouse that houses the administrator’s residence and a regent’s room.

The façade of this building consists of tall Greek columns, while a wrought ornamental fence gives access to a plateau composed of fine tiles.

Problem

And right under that plateau, they discovered a problem during an earlier renovation. In fact, the subsoil was contaminated with residues of lead and zinc. Van Schie was hired to dismantle the entire plateau, excavate and dispose of the contaminated soil.

That was a bit of a puzzle because of the narrow passage through the massive fence and the large difference in height from the street, but not to worry: Van Schie has excavators of all shapes and sizes.

Using a caterpillar track, the soil was removed to the ready container and transported to the in-house soil bank in Mijdrecht. After excavation, a separation fabric was applied over the entire area, with clean sand on top for the new concrete floor. By the way, Van Schie is fully certified for this type of environmental work and other soil remediation.