This year, Vroom will have been in existence for 60 years. We will reveal our rich history here regularly, using images from back then illustrated with, not least, facts, figures and anecdotes from our past.
The history of Vroom Funderingstechnieken formally started on 1 January 1962, when Klaas Vroom became self-employed. His contracting company, Loonbedrijf K.C. Vroom entered into an agreement with ‘Uncle George’. The continuity had to come from pile-driving work. It was difficult to get things off the ground, but everyone has to start somewhere. Fortunately, Klaas is a quick learner and he is resourceful. Whereas most pile-driving companies in the Netherlands were still using the traditional Dutch tripod rig, Vroom was able to work quickly and efficiently thanks to mobile heavy-duty pile-driving rigs.
The deed that Uncle George and Klaas had executed in the presence of Haremaker, a notary, stated that Klaas rented immovable and movable property from Uncle George. The rental agreement covered a large barn with adjoining land on the Dorpsstraat in Middelie.
Early innovation
Vroom definitely hit the ground running. While most companies at that time were still working with the traditional tripod rig, Vroom already had a mobile piling rig. That meant that work could be performed quicker, while it was easier to move plant and equipment on site from one building pit to another. In July 1962 the first Eckart (at that time still without the telescopic jib) was mounted on an old Bedford army truck, so Vroom could tackle earth movement and pile driving. The second Eckart did have a telescopic jib. Vroom exchanged the first Eckart for a newer Eckart 200 in 1964.
And an O&K (Orenstein & Koppel) was added in the same year. This was a six-wheeler REO dump-truck, supplied by Fleumer & Fraaij of Assendelft. A piling system was built on to the type-152 dragline. The crane had a mast length of 15 metres and was supplied with dragline excavator, grapple and eyes. Gerrit Roelofs, Klaas Vroom’s first employee, was the lucky one given the task of fetching this crane from Assendelft, which proved to be a very complex operation. On the photo you can see this mobile piling rig in action, in front of C.H. Dekker’s garage in Ilpendam. In 1966, Vroom bought its first Priestman Tiger.
