Interview with Wouter Slotman & William de Graaf : P1 car park’s new wing
We are welcoming more travellers to Schiphol than ever, which means we need more places to park. One of our solutions is to expand the P1 car park. The person responsible for this is Schiphol employee Wouter Slotman. His right hand is William de Graaf of construction company Ballast Nedam. Wouter, William and their teams will ensure that these car parks welcome their first visitors by the end of September.
A new car park is taking shape
A new car park building is taking shape at the Hilton Hotel’s former location. This is an extension of the P1 car park, where more than 500 new parking spaces will be available. Wouter Slotman was a developer last year, and later became a project manager for the car park. "This car park must meet many demands, like all the other car parks at Schiphol”, said Wouter. “We must consider things like fire safety, maintenance and durability – even with only a few months left to build”.
Many parties with special wishes
Wouter has William de Graaf, P1’s Project Manager, on speed dial. William is leading the work and had built the P3 car park earlier. “Schiphol’s projects are fascinating, yet complicated” said William. “We are dealing with many different parties who have different desires. This sometimes leads to compromises between those desired changes and deadlines. Fortunately, we are actually on schedule. That is partly to do with the choices we made in terms of construction and selecting permanent partners. The foundations are largely in place and the steel constructions are up. We have future-proofed this building in such a way that we can add another 3 storeys, if ever the need arises”.
The best plan
Wouter is happy at the way the collaboration with Ballast Nedam is going. “They rightly won the tender. That is because they came up with the best plan in terms of planning and the number of car spaces, among other things. They work a lot with prefabricated materials, which makes the building process a lot smoother. That’s important because we built the first posts in May. The first visitors will park their cars here at the end of September. That’s incredibly quick”.
Happy travellers and happy Schiphol
There are many more parties involved in construction. They include suppliers of camera surveillance, fire detectors, evacuation plants and more. "That should all fit well within our plans”, said William. Fortunately, he foresees very few issues. "As long as the weather holds up, and we have at least six dry days in August to coat the roof. Once that's waterproof, everyone can then get started. With lighting, plumbing, electrics, you name it. We have a few weeks as a buffer, so we have time to please Schiphol and all travellers to Schiphol”. Wouter adds “That’s absolutely what’s going to happen”.