Urker Zalmhuys uses a workable hygienic floor

On Urk, the fish trade is never far away. The Urker Zalmhuys, once started as a small smokehouse, will soon open a fourth location there. From this location, the smoked salmon will be distributed. What kind of conditions does the floor have to meet for such a finished product?

Although the new location of The Urker Zalmhuys will not be in full operation until early July, a subtle smell of smoke meets you at the entrance. "We are already doing some testing here," explains Peter Wiggelinkhuijsen. His responsibilities at the company since the end of 2021 include operations & projects. With the construction and renovation of the new building, he was immediately faced with a mega-project. He says: "Once upon a time, only salmon was smoked at Het Urker Zalmhuys, but now we also process fresh salmon. That branch is growing tremendously fast, but the smoked fish is still an important part of our business." Because of the growth, two new locations were already opened in recent years, but that turned out not to be enough. Peter: "Due to a lack of land, we bought up an existing smokehouse, which was partially demolished, and built a new production site of more than 10,000 square meters spread over two floors, including offices."

Strong and resistant

Final products will soon be made at the new site: salmon sides (which have already been scaled and filleted at another company location) will be salted, dried, smoked, cut, packaged and labeled here. "Working with such a 'ready to eat' end product again requires different conditions than working with fresh fish. For example, the floor has to be easy to clean, because we work with a greasy product. We also wanted a floor that dries quickly, otherwise it becomes an ice rink here. On the other hand, there must also be sufficient grip. We had to find a balance between the two. In addition, the floor has to be strong and resistant to salt and grease. And blue, this is after all a fishing company," says Peter. 

From left to right: Pietjan Dobbelsteen, Peter Wiggelinkhuijsen and Annegré van Spronsen 

Good experiences

With that wish list, Het Urker Zalmhuys opted for a Ucrete floor, having already had good experiences with it at another location. DRT Vloeren from Oss was asked to realize the floor. That company specializes in seamless floor systems for industry and aesthetic applications, such as cast floors. It is run by Pietjan Dobbelsteen and his sister Andriette. He says: "The cooperation with Het Urker Zalmhuys started with a 'small' slope floor with Ucrete. On that basis we continued with each other, which resulted in this splendid major job."

The filleting location has a rougher floor because there is a lot of transport equipment driving around there in a wet environment; employees need to be able to work safely without transport damage or accidents. Peter: "In the large production area, the fish is on stainless steel carts that aren't moving as fast, but we do need some grip on the floor. Near the smoke boxes and smoke generators, we had another very smooth floor installed. We don't get there with heavy transport equipment and there is smearing from the smoke generators. We need to be able to clean that right away."    

Flake 

All seamless floors were laid by DRT Vloeren, including the trowel floor in the offices, hallways and washrooms. In the cafeteria of another location, DRT Vloeren laid a pu cast floor. These " pretty floors" were chosen by Annegré van Spronsen, sister of co-owner Diederik van Spronsen. She explains, "I'm actually not much involved in the business anymore, but my brother asked if I wanted to dive into furnishing the new building. What were the requirements for the floor? Affordable and easy to clean. And I wanted a flake in the cast floor, so you don't see every single bread crumb. We are very happy with the result."     

In total, DRT Vloeren laid about 10,000 m2 of flooring at the new locations. Pietjan: "The food industry suits us very well because there is often more involved than 'just' applying a coating. Here, for example, in the production area we were dealing with an existing floor, but a new layout with a modified pit plan. As a result, we had to do a lot of correction work and adjust the existing slopes to the new layout. It is precisely these challenges that we find extra fun! Extra cool about this job was that we installed both functional and aesthetic floors - both our specialties - here."      

Extra complex

For Het Urker Zalmhuys, the renovation also brought the necessary challenges. Peter: "Before, we were a small smokehouse. Now we really are a big lot, partly because we also recently took over a smokehouse in Krimpen aan den IJssel. Our salmon goes to wholesalers, industrial customers and retailers all over the world. The requirements for food safety are therefore extremely strict. At this new location the hygiene rules will be a bit stricter again; that will take some getting used to. But we're going to be fine!"

www.heturkerzalmhuys.nl
www.drttechnischevloeren.nl

Photos: © Koos Groenewold