History K-Boringen
K-Boringen nv was established in 1978 as a specialized pipe jacking company, combining the long tunnelling experience of a German partner with the force of the Kumpen companies. In 2021, the APK Group acquired the 100% ownership of K-Boringen. Nowadays, K-Boringen is a very performing company always looking for solutions for pipe-jacking and microtunnelling in the whole of Europe.
K-Boringen was born out of a cooperation between the German tunnelling company Klee KG and the Belgian Kumpen Group of companies.
K-Boringen is independently responsible for an important job in Kiel (Germany). Open shield tunnelling with compressed air technique has become an important specialty of the company.
K-Boringen started as the very first company in Belgium with the revolutionary microtunnelling technique. The first microtunnelling job is in Mechelen : a gravity sewer ID 700 underneath the highway E19.
The execution of the first Scandinavian project in Drammen (Norway). This will be followed by projects in Stockholm and Copenhagen
Purchase of a new AVN1200 Herrenknecht microtunnelling equipment and a single drive record of 400m.
A stormwater outfall was done for the first time by microtunnelling in Ramsgate (UK). This was a record drive length of 525 m in ID 1200 concrete pipes.
K-Boringen invested in an Herrenknecht prototype TBM : de very first AVN 1600 D – mixshield TBM. Several microtunnels have been executed in the project “Tweede Bergambachtleiding” in the Netherlands.
K-Boringen enters into the Spanish market and will be active in Spain and Portugal during more than 10 years without interruption via a Spanish subsidiary.
An important project : utility tunnel under the river Rhine in Ludwigshafen for the chemical plant BASF.
Record numbers in Mira (Portugal) for a fish farm project : 4 outfall-tunnels until 1,5 km individual length and an outside diameter of almost 4 m.
In three years’ time, some challenging microtunnelling projects are realized in Switzerland at hydropower plants.
K-Boringen goes overseas for the first time : a microtunnelling project in downtown Miami (USA).
K-Boringen will be operating completely independently after the takeover of Kumpen by the Willemen group.
The APK Group acquires the 100% ownership of K-Boringen.