Highest point of Tinbergen reached: ‘I really shouldn’t look down!’

The Tinbergen building has reached its highest point, traditionally marked with a ‘pannenbier’ celebration.

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Around forty invited guests and construction workers braved the height and the heat on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the completion of the brand-new nineteenth floor of the Tinbergen building. The new floor has a full glass façade all around and stands more than seventy metres above the ground. The building is not yet finished, so there are still gaps and openings everywhere through which you can see the campus below.

“I really shouldn’t look down”, said Michèle Belgraver from Real Estate & Facilities, who suffers slightly from a fear of heights. “Just straight ahead, at the beautiful view.” From the roof, you can see the Rotterdam skyline and, on a clear day, all the way to The Hague.

Speeches followed from vice-president of the Executive Board Ellen van Schoten, director Dennis Krol (Heerkens en Bavel Bouw) and dean Patrick Groenen (Erasmus School of Economics). His faculty will eventually become the building’s main user.

Pannenbier

“Pannenbier is the traditional term in construction for celebrating the highest point of a building”, Krol said. “Even though roofs are no longer always made with roof tiles, the word has remained.” Tinbergen’s pannenbier was celebrated by raising the Erasmus University and construction company flags on the roof of the nineteenth floor. Afterwards, everyone received a glass of alcohol-free prosecco.

Sustainability

The building is being made more sustainable in many ways. The roof will eventually contain 260 solar panels. A thermal energy storage system, a sustainable system that stores energy underground, is expected to generate 70 to 80 percent of the required energy. The coating on the steel structure is made from recycled plastic bottles. Some steel structures in the future teaching rooms have also been reused from buildings that were used during last year’s NATO summit in The Hague. So students may soon attend lectures in rooms made from walls once walked past by Donald Trump or Mark Rutte, sustainability officer Annemiek Strijker explained.