Shopping mall – Ville 2 – Charleroi

The shopping centre Ville 2, situated in Charleroi, Belgium, was renovated completely and new natural stone cladding facades were raised. FIXINOX SA provided the stone fixing systems: our standard fixing systems and anchors were specifically designed for this project.

Detailed below are a few of our accomplishments. (Non‐standard fixing systems)

• Mounting rails + standard fixing systems

Aerated concrete blocks are not required to support heavy loads. Quite early in the project, It was decided to create a new support to carry the weight of the stones. We used a combination of mounting rails and standard fixing systems. The rails were fixed to the upper steel beams of the building structure. To take care of the wind efforts, we used chemical anchors sealed in the blocks and connected to the rails. To assess the feasibility of the chemical solution, a pull‐off test was necessary. This system provided a three‐dimensional adjustability.

• Notre Dame Gate Structures

Concrete panels were fixed on each side of the gate. A concrete column and a wall of bricks were under these panels. There was nothing between these two supports (see details below). Our costumer wanted to hide them behind Belgian blue stone. The stones were placed right under each panel and had to be set up in the same alignment as the concrete elements.

We designed several kinds of structures to support the stones. Basically, they were composed of stainless steel elements (“U‐form” and “Omega ‐form”) and threaded rods bolted to them. Each element was fixed independently with chemical and/or mechanical anchors (depending on which kind of support they were fixed). Once again, each structure was perfectly adjustable to make it easier to fix the stones.