SealteQ in Stadskanaal exists fifty years. ‘Just, feet in the clay’

SealteQ, founded in June 1973 as a sole proprietorship by former Philipsman Frans Nooren, started as a handyman business, mainly in the control of vermin such as longhorn beetles and woodworms and the sealing and sealing of facades. Nooren’s red-blue trucks, on their way to an impregnation job, were a familiar sight in Groningen. Nooren, now 77 years old, now lives in Emmen. Once – in 2014 – he made it to his chagrin Quotation 500 as number 399 with an estimated net worth of 50 million.

Fifty years later, his former company has grown into a specialist company with 250 employees and 7 branches in the Netherlands. Finally, a branch in Barneveld was opened in February this year. Projects are carried out criss-cross across the country. From bridges, parking garages (which are often made watertight), hospitals, lighthouses and gallery flats, to special assignments such as the reinforcement of a jetty on Bonaire.

Groningen Museum

Closer to home, the company is active in the construction of the new Southern Ring Road in Groningen, the maintenance of Gasunie installations and the renovation of the Coop Himmelblau pavilion of the Groninger Museum. Last month, SealteQ employees carefully restored the coating of the art pavilion’s steel plating. A difficult job; first the nano coating had to be carefully removed, then the construction painters had to restore the original colours.

The swimming pools in Hoogkerk and Onstwedde were tackled. The weathered coating of the outdoor pools has been removed. New floors were installed, so that the baths can last for decades. Along the Almelo – de Haandrik Canal, the foundations of collapsed homes were repaired. In Zuidbroek, the completion of the nitrogen plant there is being worked on. And in the spring of 2021, SealteQ renovated the steel roof construction of the Euroborg in Groningen. Using the aerial work platform with the largest flight in Europe, decorated for the occasion with the colors of the FC.

,,We completed almost three thousand unique projects last year,” says general manager Martin van der Leest (61) from Stadskanaal, who has been working at SealteQ since 1987 and took over the company in 2003. Together with operational director Robert Lunenborg (57) from Emmen, who has been working with him since 2005, he also owns the company.

New tunnel is leaking

We cannot name all the projects we are working on. There are also customers who do not want work to come out. You should think of infrastructure-like jobs where problems arise during construction due to implementation errors, design errors and the like. Nobody likes to say that a new tunnel has a leak. We are then called in to solve the problems.”

There is a lot of backlog in the maintenance of infrastructure in the Netherlands. A large part of the 80,000 bridges, tunnels, viaducts, harbor quays and aqueducts need urgent maintenance. “A lot was designed in the 1950s and 1960s. But we now have new calculation rules for maintenance. And the traffic intensity has become much greater”, explains Van der Leest.

“Apart from that: steel always requires maintenance due to corrosion. That starts when the paint gets damaged. Many connections are also not good and that is often not properly resolved,” adds his colleague Lunenborg. “We are very sustainable, because we extend the life of structures.”

Iron very sensitive to rust

Concrete also suffers, especially in a salty environment on the coast. It is a mixture of cement, gravel, sand and reinforcing iron. This reinforcement is protected by the cement casing. But that iron is very sensitive to corrosion. If moisture is added through a crack in the concrete or due to atmospheric conditions, damage can occur. In the end, maintenance is therefore necessary”, explains Lunenborg.

“And what about all the salt that ends up on our bridges and viaducts in the winter? That has a huge impact. Especially since many viaducts in our country date back to the 1960s,” he adds.

His colleague shows a recent photo of the underside of a viaduct. Steel of the reinforcement is exposed and clearly corroded. The concrete around the reinforcement crumbles. “We have to drill out the concrete like a kind of dentist. We may have to add new reinforcement and then pour a new piece of concrete against it.”

With the termination of gas extraction in Groningen, the company loses an important customer in this province. “In the 1980s, when I came here, the work for NAM was over 30 percent of the total turnover. Now it is less than one percent,” says Van der Leest.

Nice jobs

But, his colleague adds, SealteQ still maintains the two gas storage facilities in Grijpskerk and Langelo. “Those are very nice jobs. And don’t forget that gas transport, which will soon be replaced by hydrogen transport, will also remain. That also generates work.”

The region owes a lot to NAM and Shell, says Van der Leest. “They taught us about safety. Those companies have come a long way in that field. Moreover, there are many companies in this part of the country thanks to the work they did for oil and gas extraction. Whether it has brought enough to Groningen is, of course, the question. Many residents will think otherwise.”

Innovation is important to SealteQ and has helped keep the company going for half a century, say the directors. They give as an example quakeshield , rather disrespectfully referred to in this newspaper as ‘earthquake wallpaper’. The product was developed together with Oosterhof Holman from Grijpskerk and is intended to strengthen buildings against earthquakes. These are carbon strips that are feared in walls with a tough, elastic paste.

Van der Leest: ,,We have strengthened hundreds of houses in the earthquake area with this and many more will follow. We have a worldwide patent on it and are now in talks with parties in Southern Europe to roll it out there as well.”

Sagging foundations

The company from Stadskanaal is also working on new technologies to do something about sagging foundations, an ailment that millions of houses in our country have to deal with, according to research. “It is an extremely strong polymer resin to stabilize subsidence or to lift foundations. These substances are injected with injection lances, every meter or every half meter. Then a resin is introduced at a certain temperature that has a very fast reaction. You see the effect immediately.” The resin was found at a producer in the US. “It’s a mega market.”

According to both directors, the fact that the company can do such a thing also has to do with the fact that the employees have professional knowledge and experience. “We also do a lot of training. By the way, you don’t have any training as a construction painter, so we do it ourselves.”

Digitization in the company is also a ‘thing’, Lunenborg knows. All employees use a specially developed company app. There they keep track of their hours, watch instructional videos and make appointments with each other. “We digitize the entire work process, everyone has this app on their phone. We use this to communicate with all seven branches, about projects and about the company. It also contains toolboxes, digital toolboxes, so you no longer have to read piles of paper and thick books. Your payslip is also included. Everything you need is on the app.”

Nice feeling

SealteQ has low staff turnover, the duo assures. Good for the company, in this time of staff shortages. “It is a mixture of what you offer as an employer: a good salary, but also the challenge, the type of work we have and the training we offer. It’s not just about the money, but you have to have a good feeling together. And anyone can always walk in to us, the door is never closed here”, promises Van der Leest.

,,I think it’s an important milestone that you exist fifty years as a company. There are not that many companies in this industry that make such an anniversary. I also know that there are customers who say: I choose SealteQ because it has been in this market for fifty years. So it really has meaning,” thinks the general manager.

The relationship is especially important for customers in the North and East. “If you have done a job for someone from that part of the country, it is possible that they will call again after three years and say: I have another job for you. In the West it is less. Customer loyalty is less there. They can also call someone else there”, is Van der Leest’s experience.

He looks to the future with confidence. “We don’t do any acquisition either, we don’t have to call, customers always know where to find us, they call us. But as long as I’ve been with this organization, for about 36, 37 years, it’s always been that way. If you are and remain very good, they know where to find you,” says Van der Leest.”

,,Just put your feet in the clay”, says Lunenborg.

Still growing in the Netherlands

Is expansion abroad also an option? After all, Stadskanaal is not far from the German border. And that country also suffers from a huge maintenance backlog of the infrastructure. ,,Not immediately. We have our own hinterland here. And there is still so much to do in the Netherlands. There is still room for growth”, Lunenborg thinks.

Van der Leest keeps a blow to the arm. “Let the next generation do that. Incidentally, companies in the Netherlands are also offered to us. There will definitely be some beads on the chain.”

The big jubilee party is October 14. All employees, as well as SealteQ’s suppliers and relations are invited to attend. “We are converting the industrial hall here in Stadskanaal into a real theatre. That’s what we did ten years ago at the opening and we’re doing it again now,” says Van der Leest.

He keeps to himself who is performing. “Otherwise the surprise is gone.”