06/10/2009 | DITEC Belgium opens the doors to 30,000 travellers every day in the magnificent new work by the Spanish architect

In the recently inaugurated Liege TGV Railway Station in Belgium, designed by Santiago Calatrava

The opening ceremony for the Liege TGV railway station was held just a week ago; this magnificent new structure will be at the service of the estimated 30,000 daily passengers travelling on the TGV trains to France, to Germany and to other cities in Belgium.

The des Guillemins station, a huge glass, steel and bluestone “cathedral” was built on the foundations of the previous station, which was completely demolished to make way for this architectural marvel, with a colossal project lasting almost 10 years that cost the sizeable sum of 435 million Euro.

The new railway station has revolutionised the skyline of this beautiful city in Walloon Belgium and the figures rotating around the new facility are enough alone to make it outstanding.
Starting from the dimensions: in an area of 29,000 square metres, the station is 200 metres long, 40 metres tall (culminating in the large “sail” that bears the unmistakeable mark of the Spanish architect) and 73 metres wide.
And the amount of material used: 80,000 cubic metres of concrete, 33,000 square metres of glass and 25,000 bluestone blocks held together by 10,000 tonnes of structural steel.
But not even these numbers and immense sizes prevent the station from offering passengers and visitors an impression of lightness and airiness that are two of the key characteristics of the works designed by Calatrava.

In this highly prestigious situation, the DITEC group has also made its own fundamental contribution through its Belgian branch.
It so happens that DITEC is the name behind the automatic doors of the three external entrances and two internal entrances located in the new des Guillemins station.
And the “numbers” here are also right up at the top. The door wings are made entirely from glass without aluminium profile sections, they have a 3-metre transit opening and VALOR automations to operate 1.5-metre wide wings weighing a substantial 105 kg.

This new product reference of the DITEC group is further proof of the fame of an international brand specialising in automatic entrances, fame that extends not only to the quality and reliability of its products but also to the technical expertise of the companies in the Ditec Expert circuit, present in Europe with more than 500 professionals, selected by the parent company both for their capacity to customise the contracts allocated to them and for that extra inventiveness that “makes the difference” in unusual situations like this.

Some of the other impressive works recently completed by internationally renowned architects with the contribution of DITEC to automation also include the new Hall designed by Jean Nouvel at the Genoa Exhibition Centre, which every year hosts the famous Boat Show.