From little tropic island to mountaintops : greenhouses can be incur everywhere these day . Before the construction teams get on a plane or take the railcar to go to a location , however , a lot of work has already been done . Most of it is estimator body of work and calculations . For this purpose , glasshouse builders use CASTA / Kassenbouw , a software system programme developed by TNO .
The programme is issued under license by the Hortivation foundation . This foundation was set up in the past tense by the AVAG and focuses on technical introduction and knowledge management .
This year , the programme integrate the up-to-the-minute EU nursery structure standard ( EN 13031 - 1 ) . Due to the strong international expansion , there is now also great interest group in sum the standards of non - European countries to CASTA .
Click here to enlarge the screenshot from CASTA
" In those countries no greenhouse grammatical construction standard is the norm , " says Egon Janssen , the greenhouse building mankind within TNO ( photo below ) . That is why greenhouse builders care to accrue back on CASTA . " On the one hand , just because after incorporating the EN standard into the software , the building regulations are now also available in English " , Egon laughs . " But mainly because the standards are now no longer specifically aimed at the Netherlands , but also make a more generic approach possible . After all , building in other countries also requires other solution . "
The cooperation between the Hortivation foundation and TNO has conduct to a cast - iron product in which exercise and science come in together , Egon says . " We at TNO can focus entirely on the further development while Hortivation issues the licences , organises form , etc . "
Difficult to compareGreenhouse builders overseas have to manage with different , often more extreme , climates . " The chief factors to consider are indeed wind and C. P. Snow , " Egon confirms . " And earthquakes . We also have these in the Netherlands , but here they are not virtually as powerful as they are internationally . "
For seism , Egon sees that in greenhouse construction there is a return to a European coming on the one deal and an American one on the other . " How you measure earthquakes is the same everywhere . You do see , however , that there is a different view on what is safe and what is not . " In Europe , the standards gibe to what is uncouth in non - residential construction . " The approach to work up apartment blocks , for model , has been used to make a glasshouse construction criterion . "
Historical dataThe Dutch ' scheme ' in the field of force of greenhouse construction standards is to make the European standard , with many Dutch influences , applicable in as many countries as possible worldwide . " We help nursery builder to go to the assurance internationally with the standard and show that everything will be build properly and will be safe . " Here , too , the cooperation in Hortivation help . " We as TNO have the noesis but the CASTA drug user know the practice . By work this together you are constantly working on a undecomposed programme . "
In the long full term , Egon expects further standardisation to follow internationally . He presently distinguishes two track here . " On the one mitt , we are trying to get support for a worldwide ISO standardisation and on the other hand , we are also puzzle out on a GPS globose method . In this method acting , it is potential to make a prevision of what is demand base on historical data of the emplacement where you are building . You then look , for instance , at figures on snowfall and wind speeds from the past forty years to make a prediction about what a greenhouse will have to endure in the future . "
The GPS worldwide approach is presently already in CASTA , but still purely informational . This intend that glasshouse builders can check whether their designed construction will also match what can be expected from atmospheric condition extremes ground on historical data . The ultimate aim is to integrate the GPS planetary approach into the worldwide ISO nursery construction standard . Egon : " But that will take another five age . "
For more information : Egon JanssenTNO[email protected]+31 ( 0)6 53 46 76 64www.tno.nl
Stichting Hortivation[email protected]www.hortivation.nl
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