Construction and Civil Engineering Issue 103 Final Edition

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ISSUE 103 FINAL

CONSTRUCTION

&CIVIL Engineering

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New ad Medium dition to Wheel L Cat oaders

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Rail to use Railway Strategies Live 2014 stop Network to launch its new Product Acceptance s s pre process for the first time in an open forum.

Conference to offer visitors access to Terence Watson, Chairman of the newly created RSG

RAILWAY FOR SENIOR RAIL MANAGEMENT

Live

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Hosted in association with

Thursday May 15th 2014 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR

l The Supply Chain of the Future

l Finding the Right Route to Market

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

SPEAKERS

Terence Watson – CEO, Alstom Transport UK & Ireland, Chair of the RSG David Clarke - Director, FutureRailway Enabling Innovation Team, FutureRailway, hosted by RSSB Jim Carter - Head of Procurement, Network Rail James Lewis - Technology Introduction Manager, Network Rail Richard Holland - UK MD, TBM Consulting Group Rob Wallis - Chief Executive, TRL Martyn Chymera - Former Chairman, Young Rail Professionals Chris Rolison - Founder, Comply Serve For further details of the event, email Mark Cawston: mcawston@schofieldpublishing.co.uk, for delegate enquiries, email Maxine Quinton: mquinton@schofieldpublishing.co.uk, telephone: 01603 274130 and ask for Mark or Maxine, or visit: http://www.railwaystrategies.co.uk/eventbooking.php?id=574

CONTENTS

FEATURES

Chairman Andrew Schofield Group Managing Director Mike Tulloch Editor Libbie Hammond

libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Art Editor Jon Mee Staff Writers Matt High Jo Cooper Steve Nash Drew Dann

Lead story 2

2

The Federation of Master Builders is keen for the Government to cut the VAT on domestic building work

Major Project 6

New compressed air jointing systems can increase efficiency and reduce costs

14

Case STUDY 10

While numbers of workplace injuries have been reduced in the construction industry, companies cannot be complacent

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 14

Advertising Design Jamie Elvin

A new solution is helping JS Wright & Co verify hours worked by individuals on site

Editorial Admin Emma Harris

Environment 16

Developers need to make sure land isn’t contaminated before undertaking any work

Head of Research Philip Monument Editorial Researchers Gavin Watson Mark Cowles Natalie Martin Karl Riseborough Elizabeth Szabo Tony Wright

EQUIPMENT 20

Collaboration can deliver projects that will drive innovation and sustainability on a global scale

20

NEWS 23

Announcements, technology and developments in the construction and civil engineering market

Sales Director David Garner

ECO BUILD EXHIBITION 24

Collaboration can deliver projects that will drive innovation and sustainability on a global scale

Sales David King Mark Cawston

COMPANY PROFILES

Office Manager Tracy Chynoweth

Schofield Publishing Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1603 274130 Fax: +44 (0)1603 274131

23 26

Š 2014 Schofield Publishing Ltd

Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Ferrobeton 26 Landert Motoren 30 Dubai Contracting Company 33 KTC Group 36 ITA 39 LNS 42 Sandvik Construction 46 KASI 49 Normet 52 Nuclear Engineering Services 55 Bauwerk Boen Group 58 Ebema 61 Vitalo Global Thermoforming 64 Haulotte Group 67 Balco 71 Travis Perkins 75 Domoferm 79

Construction & Civil Engineering 1

Photos © Thomas Graham Arip

Lead story

A symbol of

London Kings Cross: Building Britain’s economy through infrastructure.

By Mike Byrne & John Turzynski

A

s we continue to see a growth in urban living, there is an increasing need for improved connectivity and the creation of sophisticated transport hubs.

Transport infrastructure is now widely regarded as a vital root of prosperity and economic growth,

2 Construction & Civil Engineering

with nations East and West prioritising its development. In December 2012 China opened the world’s longest high-speed rail line from Beijing to Guangzhou, despite many Chinese provinces still lacking basic water and sewage facilities. Meanwhile in, Germany, several projects are underway to position its place as the hub of central Europe’s transport network.

These include the $8.4 billion Stuttgart 21 rail project, major airport expansions in Munich and Frankfurt, and the new BerlinBranden Airport.

With so much activity oversees, Britain’s ongoing investment in its transport infrastructure is essential if the country is to successfully

compete for global business.

Thankfully this seems to be well recognised. Throughout the recent period of economic decline and stagnation, infrastructure spending has remained relatively well protected in Britain. The Government has developed an extensive National Infrastructure Plan, which lays out schemes averaging more than $44 billion annually. Amongst these is the $36 billion Crossrail project, which will create 55,000 jobs in the capital during the construction phase alone. This demonstrates the secondary but more immediate effect of infrastructure projects: job creation.

In developed nations, many

“King’s Cross station is now part

of the busiest transport hub in London, with 150,000 people commuting and travelling daily”

of the infrastructure projects undertaken are aimed at modernising existing facilities to accommodate ever-expanding user numbers. This is true of London, where much of the infrastructure system was designed in the 19th century and when the capital’s population was under a quarter of what it is now.

Probably the best example of this type of modernisation to date has been the restoration and development of London’s King’s Cross station. First opened in

1852, King’s Cross station is now part of the busiest transport hub in London, with 150,000 people commuting and travelling daily.

This is equivalent to 28 million a year, with millions more using St Pancras International and London Underground’s King’s Cross St Pancras.

Twenty years ago, when Arup was first engaged to support various planning applications pertaining to the station’s expansion, the necessity to increase its capacity was clear and we also had to take into account a secondary consideration. In

projects such as this, involving an existing and essential transport hub, planning, engineering and construction teams must balance the work’s urgency with the need to keep the existing transport hub operational. Without this consideration, improvements intended to stimulate economic growth will instead drive stagnation.

Partly for this reason, the redevelopment of the King’s Cross St Pancras interchange occurred in three significant stages. First, St Pancras International, which opened in 2007, followed by King’s Cross St Pancras Underground Station (2009), with the King’s Cross Mainline Station, finally completed on 19th March 2012.

Construction & Civil Engineering 3

LEAD STORY

whilst a temporary ‘quick bridge’ carried traffic over the top of the Western Ticket Hall during excavation and construction.

Project completion

Increasing capacity When the first King’s Cross station opened the terminal housed just two platforms: one for departing and one for arriving trains. Although these had been progressively added to, a drastic overhaul was essential if the station building was to meet current and projected capacity. Our design of a new 8000m2 Western Concourse was central to this. The updated station, including an additional platform, is able to accommodate 17 peak-time train movements per hour using 12 mainline and suburban platforms.

Whilst above ground, the Western Concourse was taking shape; our teams were also working on the £950m redevelopment of King’s Cross St Pancras Underground Station.

Again, the new space’s ability to accommodate increasing visitor numbers needed to be central to all plans, and effective ventilation was a crucial part of this. In order to assess ventilation designs, we created a Subway Environmental Simulation (SES) model of the entire station. Taking into account high station temperatures due to increased train and passenger numbers, this allowed engineers

4 Construction & Civil Engineering

to design and achieve solutions in accordance with London Underground standards.

Maintaining operation With so many construction elements being undertaken simultaneously, an effective construction and traffic management strategy became integral to the scheme. We developed construction techniques for the deep excavations and tunnels, which avoided damage to adjacent listed buildings and maintained the operation of railways above ground.

In addition we prepared a stageby stage construction sequence, including provision for ten, fullyassured interim stations to be delivered consecutively during the enlargement of the ticket-hall. The formulation of a traffic management scheme also minimised the impact of the construction on pedestrians,

Work continued into 2013, when King’s Cross Square, the final stage in the £550m main line station redevelopment, was completed.

The new 75,000 sq ft King’s Cross Square now provides passengers and visitors a view of the original station façade for the first time in more than 150 years. More than visually impressive, this square provides improved entrances to London Underground and, following strong responses to consultations on the subject, has been dedicated as an area for public art.

The redevelopment of the King’s Cross station area has been a catalyst for one of the largest regeneration schemes in Europe, with far reaching social and economic effects. Sixty-seven acres of brownfield land is being redeveloped, creating eight million sq ft of offices, retail space and housing. In 2011, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design (the University of the Arts London) moved into renovated railway buildings to the north of the station and new offices for Camden council are currently under construction.

King’s Cross is now more than just a station; it is a London status symbol. We are increasingly seeing connectivity as essential for attracting businesses and talent to cities and therefore key to their success. With efficient links to continental Europe, the North of England and Greater London, King’s Cross delivers just this, reinforcing London’s position as an economic power on the global map. m

Mike Byrne and John Turzynski are directors at Arup. Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. From more than 90 offices worldwide some 11,000 Arup planners, designers, engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the globe.

For further information visit: www.arup.com.

NEWS

New neighbourhood Developers have been given the green light to begin building the first new homes at Chobham Manor, an exciting new district for Stratford, east London, and the first new neighbourhood to be built on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Located in the north of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park between East Village and Lee Valley VeloPark, Chobham Manor will feature a mix of stylish one to five-bedroom apartments and houses which are expected to go on sale in late spring, with residents moving in by late 2015.

In E20, London’s newest postcode, work will start very shortly on the first phase of the vibrant new neighbourhood, which will also feature tree-lined avenues, state-of-the-art architecture and relaxing green landscaped areas.

Chobham Manor has been designed for a wide-range of Londoners who want to build their lives in an exciting new community. Seventy-five per cent (194) of the 259 homes will be family homes with three or more bedrooms. Twenty-eight per cent of homes across the whole Chobham Manor development will be affordable homes with the first phase delivering 31 per cent (79) of this type of property, including social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing.

New Swedish study KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has published a paper investigating the thermal performance of radiant skirting boards using Discrete Heat’s ThermaSkirt heated skirting board as the test sample. The extensive experiment evaluated the capacity of radiant baseboards to work in conjunction with heat pumps in built environments.

The rigorous testing of both ThermaSkirt and a range of conventional radiators provided data that showed radiant baseboards had a significantly higher heat transfer ability of 50 per cent more than panel radiators.

The research also shows the compatibility of heated skirting boards and heat pumps to be more effective than using traditional radiator panels in a heat pump system.

Heated skirting boards benefit from two key characteristics, the first being their low fitted position causing a high transferred convective heat flux from the skirting board to the room air.

Secondly, due to being installed

at the base of the walls they are exposed to colder room air along their entire length which in turn increases the thermal gradient and its ability to transfer heat to the room. This results in the radiant baseboards having a much higher mean heat transfer coefficient of 12.6 W/m°C compared to the 8.4 W/m°C of conventional panel radiators.

The paper concludes that heated skirting board should be used at maximum possible height and with the current guideline value of 100 Pa/m for waterside pressure loss for the system design.

Aberdeen expansion The UNITE Group plc, the UK’s leading developer and manager of student accommodation, has announced that it has concluded conditional missives (exchanged contracts) to acquire a circa one acre development site in the centre of Aberdeen, subject to planning consent.

The 120,000 square foot scheme is expected to have a total development cost of £20 million and is expected to deliver development yield in line with UNITE’s target returns of 9.5 per cent – ten per cent yield on cost.

The city centre site is close to the University of Aberdeen and has good transport links to Robert Gordon University.

It will be transformed into a home for approximately 400 students and is targeted to open for the 2016/17 academic year. The site is currently occupied by a derelict, listed school building, and the development will include its refurbishment as part of the design of the property. The listed building, once renovated, will house 18 per cent of bedrooms.

Richard Simpson, managing director of Property for UNITE said: “This acquisition is a prime example of how we are investing the proceeds from our 2013 share placing. This site is in an excellent central location, in a market with favourable supply/demand dynamics.

By renovating and bringing back into use a listed building, we are pleased to contribute to the regeneration of this city centre location.”

Construction & Civil Engineering 5

MAJOR PROJECT

Learning to spend

wisely

Andy Newell highlights some of the challenges that are part of school and college refurbishment projects

Learning and Resource Centre Pontefract

T

he current Government initiative to allocate nearly ÂŁ500 million for college upgrades and expansions throughout the UK will surely help establishments to reach their potential. Fifty colleges are benefitting from significant investment through the third and fourth rounds of the Capital Investment Fund but will it be spent wisely?

By the very nature of evolving educational needs and budgetary constraints of local authority control, many schools and colleges in the UK are the result of a piecemeal formation over many years.

This continues to present great challenges for architects to deliver

6 Construction & Civil Engineering

against modern day requirements but equally so for the contractor that needs to consider practical solutions whilst maintaining structural integrity, safety and operational continuity.

Tackling the legacy School and college refurbishment projects require careful planning and liaison well in advance of starting works on site and consultation with the contractor is critical to this. The majority of our projects within education either involve the refurbishment of existing buildings or the intrusion into existing buildings to form extensions. Most schools have developed facilities in a piecemeal fashion over time and, as a result, individual buildings are likely

to be in different physical condition.

Issues such as space standards ease of circulation, accessibility and internal environment will vary greatly across each estate.

Successful learning establishments that have increased in size over time may suffer particular legacy issues resulting from infill development.

Refurbishment is not a simple panacea for all of these issues. The solution must be driven by the educational vision first and followed by a deep and thoughtful analysis of the existing building stock. Only then will value for money solutions emerge to deliver environments fit for 21st century teaching and learning.

For example, whilst undertaking

Successful learning establishments that have increased “ in size over time may suffer particular legacy issues resulting from infill development ”

a new single storey extension for a primary school in York it quickly became apparent that the entire drainage system had been incorrectly surveyed, thus the proposals for the new drainage system failed to tie in with the existing infrastructure. As works commenced we worked closely with the client team to resolve the issues and effectively redesigned the drainage foundations. Additional ‘arisings’ created were utilised to enhance the local landscape.

A further primary school project in Barnsley highlighted great vulnerability to fire. A thorough contractor’s assessment revealed that almost all fire security measures were being compromised. Whilst a contractor may be brought in

to deliver extended solutions, the necessary assessment of existing operations become critical to this and often impact on life threatening risk.

Minimising disruption to the curriculum Continuity is paramount for any educational establishment and whilst term breaks present obvious opportunity for works, this is intermittent and longer, more complex projects require a more militant approach to the works programme.

Necessary demolition was a particular concern for a performing arts centre in West Yorkshire with 1600 students on the campus. To mitigate this risk we undertook

demolition works during a two-week holiday period. The works were also segregated from the main College activities requiring a special licence from the local Council for access across the adjacent public park and the formation of a temporary access road.

At the primary school in Barnsley it was necessary to keep the 300-student school open during extensive works. Communication lines comprised daily briefings and detailed weekly meetings to keep the school fully aware of the construction programme. During construction works the school needed to relocate staff and pupils from the older building to the new extensions as work progressed, sometimes creating makeshift classrooms from the

Construction & Civil Engineering 7

MAJOR PROJECT

Learning and Resource Centre Pontefract

newly built rooms. This required a significant amount of planning and scheduling with the school to minimise logistical problems. Parents and children were also embraced with the process and were asked to make inventories for relocation as projects.

Prefabrication and off-site modularisation are not new to the construction industry but the increasing interest in ‘lean’ construction, the rising use of BIM technologies, and the growing influence of sustainable design have caused many practitioners to reconsider their appeal. Faced with spiralling construction costs, off-site modular construction is now proving to be a more cost efficient and sustainable alternative to ‘traditional methods’ of construction.

Prefabrication and modularisation are used in a variety of areas but most often in the building superstructure, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and exterior envelope. Offering many desirable qualities, off-site fabrication helps to reduce operative hours on site and offers a much safer approach to construction. It also helps to

8 Construction & Civil Engineering

significantly reduce waste whilst maximising quality control and together they offer a more sustainable approach to building services delivery. With the careful management of all manufacturing logistics and sequencing, off-site assembly results in high quality components, which contribute to sustainable targets without any compromise to product quality.

Integrating green initiatives and technologies Substantial effort and funding is invested into encouraging ‘green’ actions by pupils, teachers and parents and supporting initiatives are fast becoming a pre-requisite in almost all educational build programmes. The challenge is how is best integrated within a refurbishment project.

There are many opportunities to integrate cost effective solutions that also tick the ‘green’ box in even the most archaic buildings. In fact a refurbishment presents an ideal opportunity to adapt change.

For the school in Barnsley we utilised many ‘green initiatives’

within the development of the project including a biomass boiler system, under-floor heating, natural ventilation and heat recovery systems, 20,000 litres of rainwater harvesting tanks and a state-of-theart photovoltaic system comprising mono-crystalline modules secured to the south facing standing seam roof.

The use of biomass in heating systems is beneficial because it uses agricultural, forest, urban and industrial residues and waste to produce heat and electricity with less effect on the environment than fossil fuels. This type of energy production has a limited long-term effect on the environment because the carbon in biomass is part of the natural carbon cycle; while the carbon in fossil fuels is not, and permanently adds carbon to the environment when burned for fuel (carbon footprint). Historically, before the use of fossil fuels in significant quantities, biomass in the form of wood fuel provided most of humanity’s heating.

Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space without using mechanical systems, which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of a building. At Ward Green School we used a buoyancy-driven ventilation system which works by a natural directional buoyancy

At the primary school in “Barnsley it was necessary to

Learning and Resource Centre Pontefract

keep the 300-student school open during extensive works.

Communication lines comprised daily briefings and detailed weekly meetings”

Learning and Resource Centre Pontefract

force from temperature differences between the interior and exterior of the building. The heat recovery system works hand in hand with the natural ventilation because as building efficiency is improved with insulation and weather stripping, buildings are intentionally made more airtight, and consequently less well ventilated. Since all buildings require a source of fresh air, the need for heat recovery ventilation (HVR) has become obvious.

While opening a window does provide ventilation, the building’s heat and humidity will then be lost in the winter and gained in the summer, both of which are undesirable for the indoor climate and for energy efficiency, since

the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems must compensate. HRV introduces fresh air to a building and improves climate control, whilst promoting efficient energy use.

The photovoltaic solar panels installed at Ward Green School were the most efficient available at the time. Monocrystalline solar cells are made out of silicon ingots, which are cylindrical in shape. To optimise performance and lower costs of a single monocrystalline solar cell, four sides are cut out of the cylindrical ingots to make silicon wafers, which is what gives monocrystalline solar panels their characteristic look.

Advantages include: l Monocrystalline solar panels have

the highest efficiency rates since they are made out of the highestgrade silicon. The efficiency rates of monocrystalline solar panels are typically 15-20 per cent. l Monocrystalline silicon solar panels are space-efficient. Since these solar panels yield the highest power outputs, they also require the least amount of space compared to any other types. Monocrystalline solar panels produce up to four times the amount of electricity as thin-film solar panels. l Monocrystalline solar panels live the longest. Most solar panel manufacturers put a 25-year warranty on their monocrystalline solar panels. l Tend to perform better than similarly rated polycrystalline solar panels at low-light conditions. m

Britcon is a member of the Hunt Group of Companies which includes Specialist Surfacing Ltd, Coldmac Ltd and Highways Alliance Ltd. Operating with its subsidiaries as well as external partners, the company offers complete turnkey solutions for almost all types of construction projects with expertise in general civil engineering, building, steel erection and highways engineering.

Specialising in design and construction Britcon works as a valued partner on projects ranging from remote quarry engineering and highways/rail infrastructure to bespoke emergency services and renewable energy schemes.

For further information visit:

www.britcon.co.uk.

Construction & Civil Engineering 9

CASE STUDY

Victorian conservatory at Wentworth Castle in Stainborough near Barnsley

10 Construction & Civil Engineering

Rebuilding

history

A pane-staking restoration in South Yorkshire has brought a Victorian conservatory back to its former glory

A

stunning Victorian conservatory at Wentworth Castle in Stainborough near Barnsley, one of the finest examples of its kind anywhere, has been painstakingly and faithfully restored to its previous splendour.

William Anelay Ltd, a building firm established in 1747, was charged with the task of delivering a complex 12 month project, in conjunction with architects Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams that involved the complete restoration of the conservatory and the construction of an adjoining new build extension with visitor area, shop and cafe facilities.

The recently completed project has already been nominated and shortlisted for an English Heritage Angels award under the category ‘Best Craftsmanship employed on a Heritage Rescue.’

Set in the rolling countryside of South Yorkshire, the grade I Listed Wentworth Castle is currently home to the Northern College for Residential and Community Education and was propelled into the national consciousness as a runner up in the 2003 BBC Restoration series hosted by Griff Rhys Jones. Previous work also saw Wentworth shortlisted in the Country Life Restoration of the Century award back in 2010.

Over the past decade a major programme of work has taken place, with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, the

Country Houses Foundation, the European Regional Development Fund and the venue’s own Trust with William Anelay involved in a number of phases of the building restoration work.

The 300 square metre conservatory was constructed in 1885 by Crompton and Fawkes of Chelmsford and is thought to be the first to incorporate electric lighting.

It had fallen into a dangerously bad state of disrepair and had become overgrown with vegetation.

William Anelay worked closely with Shepley Engineering of Barnsley to dismantle and catalogue the complete structure and carefully restore each of the hundreds of wrought iron glazing bars before infillng with new glazing, sited within a 2mm seating, supplied by Bootle Glass on Merseyside.

Anelay project manager Dave Akitt explained: “This was an incredibly challenging process that started in September 2012. It was akin to an enormous Mecanno jigsaw puzzle. Inch perfect precision was required to reassemble the conservatory effectively and sympathetically. Were any of the beams just a few millimetres out then we would have had to start from scratch.

“One key aspect of the complexity lay in the way the conservatory was originally constructed with the 28 circular hollow columns also serving as rainwater down pipes.

In order to protect these Shepley

Construction & Civil Engineering 11

CASE STUDY

A stunning Victorian conservatory at Wentworth Castle in Stainborough near Barnsley, one of the finest examples of its kind anywhere, has been painstakingly and faithfully restored to its previous splendour

coated the inside with bitumen paint.

“That is why Shepley are restoring or replacing every single part of the structure and then reassembling it in full in their large workshop facility.

“The start of works involved the clearing of vegetation inside the Conservatory prior to Shepley arriving on site and carefully scheduling and dismantling the structure. The ground was excavated to form a flat terrace, level with the original floor of the conservatory with the original masonry walls being cleaned and repaired as necessary. “Now reconstructed, the conservatory has access into what was originally a potting shed. This forms part of the new build extension that includes toilets, kitchen, plant room and an interpretation area.

“The new build aspect of the project is of a timber construction with cedar cladding and a green and patent glazed roof. Both the conservatory and the extension were fitted with new mechanical and electrical services throughout,” added Dave.

12 Construction & Civil Engineering

Anelay chairman Charles Anelay concluded:

“This is undoubtedly one of the most challenging

projects we have undertaken in recent times. There was no room for manoeuvre when it came to accuracy” The rear of the conservatory features new terracing and soft landscaping with hard landscaping around the new and restored structures to improve visitor access and parking areas.

Claire Herring, director of Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust comments: “Great team work has made this project possible involving funders and our volunteers as well as the experience and skill of the craftsmen who have brought the Conservatory back to life. It’s been a real labour of love.”

Anelay chairman Charles Anelay concluded: “This is undoubtedly one of the most challenging projects we have undertaken in

recent times. There was no room for manoeuvre when it came to accuracy and it called for very close liaison with all of those organisations involved.

“The end result is a new conservatory and welcome area that will radically transform the experience for the thousands of visitors that make their way to the castle and park every year and also creates a venue that is perfect for weddings and other major events,” added Charles.

The finished Wentworth Castle conservatory reflects the very best traditions of days gone by as well as the cutting edge skills and knowledge of today. m

NEWS

Sprinkler study

Steel solution Simpson Strong Tie has kicked off 2014 with the launch of a full range of performance tested connection solutions for the steel frame construction industry. Developed for use with light gauge steel, this innovative range of time saving brackets, clip connectors and holdown systems also includes collated fastenings and heavy duty anchoring products - all fully tested and available from one source.

Head of the engineered products division at Simpson Strong Tie, Jon Head said: “We’re delighted to begin the year with the launch of a new range which we believe will save time and money for the steel frame

construction industry. Many of the products in this light gauge steel connectors range are already well established in the USA, but are now available in variations suitable for use in the UK.” Simpson Strong Tie has also developed a new line of connectors within this range especially for buildings which have ‘over sail’ structures, as part of its commitment to expand its range for light gauge steel applications.

A new brochure that includes installation advice and performance values is available as a hard copy or as a PDF download from

www.strongtie.co.uk

Structural Masonry Day The Brick Development Association (BDA) which represents the UK Brick Industry is organising a Structural Masonry Day in association with IMS (International masonry Society) on 3rd April, held at Arup as part of its annual seminar series. Leading experts in structural masonry design will be on hand to offer authoritative advice on masonry prefabrications and movement in masonry as well as case studies on innovative structural solutions. There will also be practical demonstrations on thin joint construction.

The event will be held at Arup, Shear & Emmerson Room, 8 Fitzroy Street W1T 4BQ from 10am to 4pm. Tickets cost £75 (plus VAT) including lunch and refreshments and can be purchased by visiting the BDA’s website:

One in five warehouses in England will have a fire requiring the attendance of fire fighters each year. The total annual cost to the UK economy of fires in English warehouses without fire sprinklers is £232 million.

The main finding from a three-year study conducted independently by BRE Global and commissioned by the Business Sprinkler Alliance has shown that sprinklers are, on average, a cost effective investment for warehouses with a floor area above 2,000 m2, with the greatest benefit arising from the reduction in direct fire losses.

Dr Debbie Smith, director of fire science and building products at the BRE, said: “Despite a year-on-year decrease in the number of commercial fires, the estimated annual cost of these fires is rising along with related societal and environmental impacts. This project has broken new ground in terms of evaluating these broader sustainability impacts of fire in warehouses and demonstrating that, on average, sprinklers can be shown to deliver a net benefit.”

Iain Cox, BSA Chairman said: “The findings of this study scratch the surface in terms of the return fire sprinklers bring to business. What is clear from the current research is that insurance alone is not enough to fully protect companies from the long-term impacts of fire. We urge the government to do more to encourage the installation of fire sprinklers in commercial premises and promote a better understanding of the positive impacts of physical resilience.”

www.brick.org.uk/2013/10/bda-structural-masonry-day/.

Construction & Civil Engineering 13

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Looking after the

pennies With margins ever tightened, ensuring projects run to budget is crucial for any construction company.

Simon Eyre discusses the tools available to help firms maximise the impact of every pound spent

A

ccording to research

by Barbour ABI in November 2013, although the housing and commercial sectors are driving UK growth between Q2 and Q3, analysis of construction output shows that levels are still 13.3 per cent below the pre-recession peak

14 Construction & Civil Engineering

showing difficult times for the industry. These figures prove that the construction sector remains under pressure, with companies fighting tooth and nail for every contract.

The biggest challenge for many businesses is managing costs – they continue to rise, and many companies simply do not have

the systems in place to manage them. Too many businesses rely on disparate systems providing different data from a range of departments, leading to inefficiency and confusion over what are the true costs of the project.

Construction companies need to better understand that organisation of their data is the most effective way to keep projects on track, through an integrated ‘one version of the truth’ view of projects.

What can companies do to mitigate risks?

Historically the construction industry has been slow to adopt new technology, and many companies still use paper based systems and spreadsheets. But such is the pace of systems advancements, providing businesses with real competitive advantage, the opportunities presented by automating processes are hard to ignore.

Indeed with an ever growing volume of restrictive regulation on workforce management, health and safety, waste management and environmental control, construction companies need to take control of their data and have a holistic view of the performance of every area of the business to create one version of the truth.

Critical data that needs to be captured includes tender figures, including anticipated tender margin, forecast figures at completion for cost and value together with, the current payment applications by the contractor, the current certified value, an account of any period adjustments or provisions against cost to date and the cash received to date including the retention deducted and certified sums unpaid.

Having a centralised view of data across all departments significantly helps to close the gap between ‘budget’ and ‘actual’. Despite best efforts to control costs, companies are prone to budget overruns owing to the time lag between when a

financial commitment is made and when cost is accrued.

Traditional cost control mechanisms focus on establishing cost to date, with manual reconciliation back to budgets. This process typically starts following finance closing the purchase ledger, and effectively means that, at best you know where you ‘were’ several weeks after the event. This can lead to overstated budget balances and subsequently to overspending.

Any orders, invoices or adjustments impact the budget, but intelligent systems track commitment against budget to help avoid overspending, immediately highlighting buying/value gains/ losses. Commitment and accurate cost to date help predict the final cost and value at completion, and therefore the anticipated margin at completion.

“Having a centralised view

of data across all departments significantly helps to close the gap between ‘budget’ and ‘actual’ ” overview of performance can be gleaned and then acted upon. It is here that the greatest opportunities are being realised, with technology no longer being regarded as simply a number cruncher, but as a strategic management tool that will enable construction companies to grow. m

Knowledge where it’s needed The prevalence in smart phone and tablet usage has led to an increased demand for information at the point of need. Increasingly professionals need access to project information, whether on site or away from their usual workstation. It’s vital therefore those systems are robust enough to deliver real time information across departments whenever it is required.

Leading by example As margins are ever more squeezed and management teams wonder if the information they receive is an accurate view of reality, more and more businesses are relying on software to bring together the established totals for cost and value to illustrate the profitability of a contract. Thus ensuring that contract profits shown in company accounts are accurate and are supported with complete details of all transactions and reconciliations.

While individual managers and departments need greater visibility of activities for which they are directly responsible, it is only at senior management level that a true

Simon Eyre is managing director of construction software specialists Xpedeon.

Xpedeon builds software solutions for the construction industry and is a leader in helping companies to maximise margins in a dynamic and ever changing business environment.

Xpedeon has been built by collaborating with some of the largest companies in the construction business.

Its integrated solutions are therefore purpose built for the unique requirements of building contractors, civil engineering contractors, specialist contractors and housebuilders using industry best practice and easy to access data.

For further information, visit:

www.xpedeon.com.

Construction & Civil Engineering 15

ENVIRONMENT

Healthy

building The Passivhaus Trust gives an overview of the ‘Passivhaus’ standard

Award-winning Lancaster Cohousing Community self build Photo: Jon Sear

16 Construction & Civil Engineering

P

assivhaus is the leading international low energy, design standard. With over 37,000 buildings having been designed, built and tested to this standard worldwide it offers a robust, proven and cost-effective method to reducing energy use and carbon emissions from buildings in the UK, as well as providing high standards of comfort and building health. Passivhaus buildings provide significantly draft

free environments, which provide improved indoor air quality along with lower heating bills. Through improved fabric and services, Passivhaus can achieve real energy demand reductions below the level proposed by building regulations.

Passivhaus buildings are built with meticulous attention to detail and rigorous design and construction, according to principles developed by the Passivhaus Institut (PHI) in Germany, and can be certified

250 riverfront apartments at Carrow Quay in Norwich, believed to be the largest scheme in the UK designed to Passivhaus principles

“ Passivhaus: A building in which thermal comfort can be

achieved solely by post-heating or post-cooling the fresh air flow required for a good indoor air quality, without the need for additional recirculation of the air ” Passivhaus Institut (PHI)

cooling demand of less than 15 kWh/ m2 year or a maximum heating and cooling load of 10W/m2 l A maximum total primary energy demand of 120 kWh/m2/year l An air change rate of no more than 0.6 air changes per hour @ 50 Pa. The Passivhaus refurbishment standard, EnerPHit, is slightly more relaxed when the existing architecture or conservation issues mean Passivhaus is not feasible and requires: l A maximum space heating and cooling demand of less than 25 kWh/m2.year or a maximum heating and cooling load of 10W/m2 l A maximum total primary energy demand of 120 kWh/m2/year + heat load factor l An air change rate of no more than 1.0 air changes per hour @ 50 Pa.

To achieve the Passivhaus Standard in the UK typically involves: l Very high levels of insulation l Extremely high performance windows with insulated frames l Airtight building fabric l ‘Thermal bridge free’ construction l A mechanical ventilation system with highly efficient heat recovery. m

The Passivhaus Trust is an independent, nonprofit organisation that will provide leadership in the UK for the adoption of the Passivhaus standard and methodology. Its aim is to promote the principles of Passivhaus as a highly effective way of reducing energy use and carbon emissions from buildings in the UK, as well as providing high standards of comfort and building health.

www.passivhaustrust.org.uk.

Chester Balmore – Camden, London.

Large scale residential development Photo: www.chesterbalmore.com/the-apartments/ through an exacting quality assurance process. Key principles state the building must be able to achieve excellent airtightness levels and this must be confirmed using on site air leakage tests and commissioning of mechanical services. Excellent onsite workmanship and attention to detail is crucial to achieving the required standards.

The new-build Passivhaus Standard requires: l A maximum space heating and

Construction & Civil Engineering 17

ENVIRONMENT news

Efficient apartments Norwich based architects Ingleton Wood has achieved reserved matters planning approval for 250 riverfront apartments at Carrow Quay in Norwich, believed to be the largest scheme in the UK designed to Passivhaus principles.

Whilst Ingleton Wood’s Planning Consultants have negotiated some flexibility in the planning approval as to how a fabric first approach can be achieved through construction, Carrow Quay will potentially be the first high-density development in the UK built to the Passivhaus standard.

The scheme, designed on behalf of local housing association Broadland Housing Group, marks the culmination of three years of research by Broadland and its consultant team.

As an organisation responsible for 5000 homes across East Anglia, Broadland Housing Group has made a commitment to target building fabric performance in an attempt to minimise fuel poverty for its tenants, having recently completed its first rural Passivhaus scheme in North Norfolk.

Ingleton Wood’s architects, specialists in sustainable residential design, have worked closely with German Passivhaus experts Herz-Lang GmbH to develop the principles of the building’s thermal envelope.

Project architect Chris Stammers commented: “Carrow Quay is a project driven by a client that’s extremely passionate about creating great environments for its tenants.

18 Construction & Civil Engineering

Windows certified Green Building Store has launched its Passivhaus certified Ecocontract ULTRA timber window range. The new insulated frame version of the Ecocontract ULTRA range offers whole window U values of 0.68 W/m2K and has received certification as a Certified Component from the Passivhaus Institut.

The Ecocontract ULTRA range has been developed by Green Building Store in response to specifier demand, and is designed to help fill a gap in the UK Passivhaus and low energy market. Ecocontract ULTRA’s outward opening style is available in a suite of insulated or solid frame versions to give a very high level of design flexibility. In the timber window market, outward opening windows are more familiar to the British public (and building professionals), but have been hard to source for Passivhaus projects in the UK. Chris Herring, director of Green Building Store, said: “We are delighted to have received Passivhaus certification for the new insulated version of the Ecocontract ULTRA timber window. Now the Ecocontract ULTRA range will be able to give designers working on Passivhaus and low energy projects greater design flexibility.

Passiv pool The municipal swimming pool operator in the German city of Lünen ventured into unchartered terrain when it decided to build its indoor swimming pool to the Passive House Standard some years ago.

This courageous step has now paid off, as recent monitoring results have shown. The savings in terms of energy consumption, for heating as well as for electricity, are substantial compared with other swimming pools. The monitoring carried out by the Passive House Institute also shows that even further optimisation is possible during the building’s use.

The beacon in Westphalia thus forms an outstanding basis for subsequent projects. Details on this will be presented by Jessica Grove-Smith from the Passive House Institute at

the International Passive House Conference in Aachen, taking place from 25 - 26 April 2014.

Swimming pools are extremely energy-intensive. Since many swimming pools in Germany were built in the 1970s, there is a great need for refurbishment on a broad scale. “There is a huge potential for savings – and the data from Lünen clearly shows that Passive House is a practicable solution here as well,” explains Søren Peper, scientific advisor at the Passive House Institute.

One of the key requisites for achieving the Passive House Standard, also in the case of indoor swimming pools, is a high-quality building envelope, including the glazed areas. This not only helps significantly improve thermal comfort, but also allows for the pool to be operated at higher levels of indoor air humidity without causing condensation. Higher levels of indoor air humidity means reduced evaporation from the water surface, thus resulting in lower heating requirements for the pools.

Further savings can be achieved with the ventilation system. Heat losses are reduced by the use of high quality heat exchangers and adapted ventilation regulation.

Smaller air quantities and the use of energy-saving devices provide for significantly lower consumption.

Improved swimming pool technology with energy-efficient electrical systems and recycling of filter backwash are other key aspects in this concept.

FEATURE

Part L sustainability &value

Part L may often be discussed but is it understood?

David Bownass sheds some light on the regulations

P

art L Conservation of Fuel and Power, is the foundation of UK sustainability regulation.

It’s the minimum standard for new build, the reference standard for building refurbishment, the benchmark for planning carbon policy and the ‘cornerstone’ for BREEAM Excellent and Outstanding ratings. It’s oft quoted though understood by a relative few practitioners.

Given its status within the UK sustainability agenda it’s worth understanding a little more about how it works and consider if it represents good value in its current form. In this context value doesn’t just equate to cost, though clearly Part L has financial consequences, but more a broad public confidence in its use and application.

To start its worthwhile understanding what Part L ‘is’ and in this context I mean Criterion 1 of Part L2A. It’s a carbon emissions calculation methodology. The results then allow you to benchmark and compare regulated carbon emissions between new buildings and compare your actual building to the required Part L standard. Regulated carbon emissions include emissions from lighting, auxiliary equipment (fans and pumps), heating, cooling and hot water. Equipment plugged into the smaller power network, process loads, lifts and computers are excluded. Furthermore to allow a

fair comparison between buildings, occupancy profiles are standardised so it doesn’t consider the real occupancy of the building.

With this simple introduction it’s evident that a Part L calculation will not provide a realistic indication of a building’s true energy consumption, as it doesn’t consider all the energy uses and it’s unlikely a user will mirror the standard occupancy profile (see CIBSE TM 54: 2013 evaluating operational energy performance of buildings at the design stage for more details).

If we understand that Part L simply calculates the carbon emissions for a new building’s regulated load, does it do this accurately and fairly? Let’s examine a few of the anomalies: l It’s a one off calculation based on current data. No cognisance is made of the building’s operational carbon or energy use over its lifespan.

In theory grid electricity carbon content will reduce to around 50 g/kWh in 2030, currently the figure is 517 g/kWh. This will lead to completely different technical solutions to those promoted today. l Energy associated with LTHW and CHW pumping is modelled as a fixed figure. While small adjustments can be made for pump control (three options are available) if the building has one or 1000 pumps it makes no difference to calculation. l A heat network with a remote energy centre containing a gas-fired

chp is modelled using a different methodology than a building containing the same technical solution in a local plant room. An efficient chp in a building with a large heat demand will result in a much better result than the same building served with the same chp from a heat network. l Heat network connections normally ignore the significant pump energy used to distribute the hot water round the network to the building. l Lighting is assessed by how efficiently it is supplied not how much you use. So if you lower the lighting level in a space it will not make an equivalent improvement in Part L. The origins of the Part L calculation as a simplified energymodelling tool didn’t envisage its current day use or the need to demonstrate continued carbon improvement. As we progress to zero carbon buildings or more immediately address the GLA planning policy target of a 40 per cent improvement in Part L 2010 we need a more precise, flexible methodology with the ability to take a longer term view. m

David Bownass is sustainability director at professional consultancy WSP. WSP is a leading professional services firm in the UK providing consultancy services to all aspects of the built and natural environment working with governments, planners, developers and architects.

The firm has been involved in many high profile UK projects including the Shard, Crossrail, New South Glasgow Hospital, the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham and the re-development of London Bridge station.

For further information visit:

www.wspgroup.co.uk.

Construction & Civil Engineering 19

EQUIPMENT

A

hire purpose Mark Rooney reflects on the last five years within the construction industry and how the downturn has helped the equipment hire market become more customer centric and focused on innovation

L

ike most sectors in the UK over the last five years, the construction industry has felt the impact of the economic downturn, which has inevitably affected the equipment hire market. There have been fewer projects and opportunities and this has undoubtedly led to tougher competition for the work that has been available. Hire companies have had to look at how they operate in detail to ensure they provide the best value for money and levels of service to remain competitive and win repeat business. As a result, the most successful companies have become more customer focused, leaner and more efficient. As such the ones that have flourished through the recession are now likely to be much better placed as the economy and general construction industry starts to recover.

In terms of the construction industry, the good news is that we have been starting to see a definite increase in activity over recent months. There is a lot more optimism in the market and significantly more work. As always, this has pulled through into the hire industry with more requirements for equipment and increased levels of

20 Construction & Civil Engineering

business. It is still nowhere near the highs reached in 2006/07 but the level of work available is much higher than it has been for some considerable time. London and the South East in particular is a vibrant market at the moment with many new projects underway and significant investment in construction and infrastructure.

The rail industry is also busy with Crossrail investing heavily.

Demands for more efficient solutions The above-mentioned economic climate had the effect of forcing construction companies to look at

how efficiently they were working. This placed the onus on equipment hire companies to look at the products and solutions they were offering. It is no longer enough to simply provide the same tried and tested solution when a more efficient way of working may be available. This has given rise to a number of new products focused on improving site efficiency.

Saving time on site is one of the major cost savings available and companies will often pay more for a piece of hire equipment if the time savings are great enough to outweigh the additional hire costs.

In addition, by working closely

with the customer, hire companies can help to improve efficiency in a number of other ways aside from new products. Improved levels of service, accurate delivery and collection times and reduced lead times have all become key to the customer when they are choosing an equipment provider.

Hire companies can provide innovative solutions to customer problems on site but only if they are aware of what the problem actually is. The nature of the hire industry is that we are often quite removed from where the product is being used and so it’s vital to work closely with the customer to understand their problems and issues to enable hire companies to develop the best

solutions in conjunction with the customer. It is far better to develop a solution with a client to solve their exact problem than design a product or solution in isolation and then try to convince the client it is what they need.

Introducing new technology The construction industry has traditionally been conservative and slower than some industries to embrace new technology. Again the economy has changed this outlook, with companies constantly looking for an edge and turning to new technology as a potential source for this. Similarly in the equipment hire arena development

has sometimes been slow due to the risk of redundancy that introducing new technology can bring. This attitude has changed in recent times and is gathering momentum with new technology becoming more prevalent.

The main place where technology has been embraced has been in the area of communication and the provision of information. The explosion in the use of smartphones has enabled companies to find new more efficient ways of working. For example, product user videos can be viewed on a phone anywhere in the field. Similarly, phone apps can provide customers with realtime account information or the facility to place an order quickly

Construction & Civil Engineering 21

EQUIPMENT

“Sustainability remains high on the agenda and hire companies are obviously naturally good in this area due to the continued reuse of their equipment ”

and efficiently. This is a constantly changing area and companies need to be continually up-to-date with new innovations and how these may be used to improve the customer’s experience.

Hot topics and trends Rightly so, health and safety is always a hot topic, the UK leads the world in the provision of a safe working environment and our construction industry benefits from a continually improving health and safety record. This area retains a high priority in equipment hire with new innovations hitting the market on an increasingly regular basis.

Previously introduced ‘nice to haves’ have now, in many cases, become prerequisites on site as legislation tightens and standards improve.

Another trend in the nonmechanical hire industry is towards lighter equipment, which still performs as well as traditional methods. Lighter products enable contractors to use lighter machinery to handle them and also reduce the impact on the environment through reduced size transport and lower fuel usage.

To facilitate this, companies will need to consider new materials for products and smarter methods of manufacture.

Sustainability remains high on the agenda and hire companies are obviously naturally good in this area due to the continued reuse of their equipment. However, consideration needs to be given to such things as transport routing to minimise the impact on the environment. m

Mark Rooney is managing director of Mabey Hire. Mabey Hire Ltd is part of the family owned Mabey Group of companies. It employs 430 staff, including 40 engineers, across 17 depots nationwide. With a turnover in excess of £42 million, the company offers hire products to the construction industry including: groundworks, formwork and falsework, propping and jacking, temporary bridging, and contract services.

For more information please visit: www.mabeyhire.co.uk.

22 Construction & Civil Engineering

NEWS

Finance offer

£46m Uni library Willmott Dixon, one of the UK’s largest construction companies, has been awarded a design and build contract to construct the University of Bedfordshire’s new library building in Luton.

Spread over seven floors, the iconic building will become a landmark in the town centre incorporating 7400 sq meters of space, connecting to the rest of the University’s Luton campus via a bridge link.

“The appointment of Willmott Dixon to build our new library is great news,” said the University’s Vice Chancellor, Bill Rammell.

“This move further underlines our ambitions for current and future generations of students at Bedfordshire. The fantastic new facility will further enhance the students’ learning experience, offering the latest digital learning technologies, an expanded space for print resources and flexible study space for individual and group study, which will be open

24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Chris Tredget, managing director at Willmott Dixon, added: “We are delighted to be involved and look forward to delivering this superb new library for the University of Bedfordshire. As a local company, with an office in nearby Hitchin, Herts, and staff living across Bedfordshire, we are naturally very proud to be responsible for an important addition to our community. We will also buy local construction materials whenever possible to support jobs and companies in the local area.”

Fleximize, a newly launched finance company, will provide SMEs in the construction sector with an innovative and flexible source of financing – a revenue advance.

Max Chmyshuk, founder and managing partner at Fleximize said: “Revenue-based financing (RBF) is often viewed as ‘the best of both worlds’ sitting between debt and equity investment. The value of monthly repayments fluctuates with the performance of the client’s business so they pay more in good months and less in bad ones. This can be attractive for many SMEs in the Construction sector, particularly in the current uncertain economic environment.

“We feel that our revenue-based financing solution is significantly less risky for a business than other forms of more mainstream financing usually involving fixed regular repayments. There is a natural alignment of interests between us and our clients.”

Series rollout Caterpillar has rolled out the M Series 980 and a new addition to the Cat Medium Wheel Loaders Line, the 982M. The new 980M and 982M Wheel Loaders have EU Stage IV ACERT engines equipped with a combination of proven electronic, fuel, air and aftertreatment components.

Applying proven technologies systematically and strategically lets CAT meet its customers’ high expectations for productivity, fuel efficiency, reliability and service life.

Deep system integration results in reduced emissions, improved performance and improved fuel economy without interrupting machine performance making it seamless to operators.

Construction & Civil Engineering 23

ECOBUILD EXHIBITION

Building

success

The Ecobuild exhibition is the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment and the UK’s largest construction event of any kind

E

cobuild returned to London’s ExCeL, 4th–6th of March. Now in its 10th year the event connected industry professionals in order to help them network, learn, and discover new products and innovative business solutions.

Championing the business case for more sustainable buildings, Ecobuild connected the entire built environment supply chain and helped professionals to respond to complex and demanding legislation.

This year’s Ecobuild featured an unrivalled information programme comprising of an exciting mix of industry experts, ministers and celebrities. The event also played host to the most comprehensive showcase of sustainable construction products in the world. To ensure that visitors made the most of their visit, the event was divided into three core areas;

24 Construction & Civil Engineering

Sustainable Design & Construction, Energy, and Future Cities.

The Sustainable Design & Construction zone focused on the topic that has been at the heart of Ecobuild since its inception. This is the area where visitors learned about the latest design ideas, future construction materials, lighting and technical solutions to sustainable construction challenges.

The area featured three unique seminar streams focusing on key issues facing the industry today; Build Performance & BIM, Design, and Refurbishment & Retrofit.

Sessions featured experts delivering insight and case studies exploring themes such as Government Soft Landings, the latest development in Passivhaus, the Green Deal, ECO, and individual versus neighbourhood solutions.

Professor David Philp, Head

of BIM, Mace, and Head of BIM Implementation, Cabinet Office chaired a seminar updating visitors on the Government BIM Task Group’s work on the Tuesday of the event, and a further session on the Thursday explored how to get the best value from BIM in all phases of a project.

Exploring effective refurbishment and retrofit strategies saw a focus on accessing funding as well as a practical assessment of how the latest retrofit innovations, technologies, and materials perform in a controlled whole house environment.

Alongside the education programme there was an array of exhibits and interactive attractions.

Within the Sustainable Design & Construction zone area the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) held

membership clinics. The clinic was open to both members and non-members who want advice on joining, upgrading, level of membership, completing applications, and any other general enquires.

Exploring the ever-evolving ideas surrounding the use of timber in construction, the Ongreening Timber Pavilion (S840/41) included a green lounge, allowing visitors to take a break from exploring the show. The Timber Pavilion also played host to screenings of Ongreening’s exclusive interviews with inspiring green thinkers and an exciting showcase of impressive and innovative sustainable projects and best practices.

Suppliers such as Fluke UK (N2426), Grant Engineering (N2230), Ashwell Biomass (N2311), and Lafarge Tarmac (N320/21) exhibited

in this area.

The Energy section of the show played host to the most comprehensive display of sustainable construction products in the world and included a range of features on renewable energy, resource management and energy efficiency, as well as hundreds of the latest energy innovations. Two hugely popular features will return in this area: Practical Installer and the Solar City. Plumb Center’s Practical Installer brought together 17 of the industry’s leading manufacturers to give live demonstrations and installation advice on solar thermal and heat pumps. The flagship Solar City, in association with SMA Solar features seminars and practical demonstrations covering all aspects of the solar PV

market in the UK. The Future Cities area incorporated a range of topics from biodiversity to technology, infrastructure to water and waste. It also housed the Natural Building Materials stand, providing visitors with the opportunity to see natural materials in use through a variety of demonstrations and talks on reclaimed timber, wattle and daub, straw bale, clay and lime rendering, hemp and cob and sheep wool insulation. Exhibitors such as Bauder (S1311), Alutec (S1711), Kemper (S1520/21), and Carlisle Construction Materials (S1720/21) exhibited in this zone. m To see what else the 2014 event offered visit:

www.ecobuild.co.uk.

Construction & Civil Engineering 25

PROFILE: Ferrobeton

concrete foundation A

For 58 years Ferrobeton has been at the forefront of construction and civil engineering in Europe, with a rich history and an expansive and diverse project portfolio

T

he name Ferrobeton first appeared during 1991 when a Dunaújváros based factory split from the BVM Concrete element group to begin a separate venture. The full heritage of the company however, can be traced as far back as 1955 during a tenacious moment

26 Construction & Civil Engineering

in Hungary’s history when the government of the time decided to construct a large iron factory to support the nation’s industrial sector. In a bid to spur the growth of central Hungary’s manufacturing capacity a new town, Dunaújváros began construction during the same time. It was these events that would drive the formation of the predecessor of Ferrobeton as it is recognised today.

Ferrobeton celebrated 50 years in operation during 2005 and as of 2008 is part of the CRH Group, which employs as many as 76,000 staff worldwide in 3500 locations

throughout 35 nations. Ferrobeton itself currently has a core work force of around 430 and works closely with trusted temporary workers during peak capacities and larger projects. It is one of Hungary’s largest concrete and reinforced concrete fabrication companies and has completed a far-reaching breadth of projects within the residential, commercial and infrastructure sectors. Solutions are provided in both turnkey design applications and standardised prefabricated products depending on the needs of the client.

Commenting on the diverse nature

Bridge beam

aújváros

Factory Dun

of the projects that Ferrobeton has executed, CEO Zoltan Vass states: “We build factories, halls, storage and warehouses as well as shopping malls, schools, football stadiums and many other types of construction. Ferrobeton has been involved in projects with companies like Audi, Hankook, Mercedes and Lego in Hungary encompassing

over 70,000m3 of concrete.”

Infrastructure is a key market for Ferrobeton, where it produces beams and bridge parts for motorways as well as railways.

Telecommunication applications have also added to the portfolio of projects undertaken by the company, which has benefitted from its ability to service multiple markets in the face of the global economic downturn. While the slowdown in construction throughout Europe saw its output of concrete elements fall from 140,000m3 to 70,000m3 in the years following 2007, investment

in infrastructure by the Hungarian government has enabled Ferrobeton to weather the crisis.

Its industry-leading reputation in the field of concrete fabrication marked the company as an obvious choice in renewing the nation’s public infrastructure and as such the company today enjoys capital of around 2.5 BN HUF and an annual production, not including ready mixed concrete of around 70,000m3.

From its base in Hungary, Ferrobeton provides services throughout Europe. While eastern regions including Slovakia, the

Construction & Civil Engineering 27

PROFILE: Ferrobeton

Ukraine, Romania and Hungary represent its traditional customers the company is keen to provide solutions to its clients wherever they are. For example, within its native Hungary it has been involved in the construction of facilities for some of the world’s most recognisable brands, the improvement and building of highway bridges across the country and the supply of the prefabricated concrete structure of the prestigious Ferencvárosi soccer stadium in Budapest. Further afield in Romania, Ferrobeton is proud of its Mihai Bravu – Vacaresti overpass bridges and in the Ukraine the prefabricated structures of the Arena Lviv soccer stadium.

Serbia is becoming an increasingly important market for Ferrobeton and as it develops its strength in the region the company will rely on its proven track record

and comprehensive industry experience to help it deliver projects to new customers, as Zoltan explains: “Our work is our marketing.

You will hardly find a project with prefabricated structures where we are not involved. We are just at the

beginning of our Serbian expansion and last year we created Ferrobeton Serbia with a small sales office. We are currently learning our way in the Serbian market and are looking to build extensive client relationships.”

Strong customer focus

The biggest PC strand and wire manufacturer in Central-Eastern Europe Wire Products for the building industry Stabilized prestressing strands and wires for the construction of pre- and post-tensioned concrete structures Steel wire fibres for strengthening concrete structures (industrial floors, tunnels, concrete pillars)

28 Construction & Civil Engineering

D&D Drótáru Ipari és Kereskedelmi Zrt. H 3527 Miskolc, Besenyői út 18.

Tel: (+36) 46/519-100 | Fax: (+36) 46/519-155 | contact@drotaru.hu | www.drotaru.hu

represents one facet of what gives Ferrobeton its competitive edge; this along with its ability to innovate bespoke solutions in tandem with prefabricated structures, interoperability and high production capacity makes it a leading player in the concrete market. Additionally, the advantageous geographic location of its factories leads to a reduction in freight costs for both ready products and raw materials.

“Our strong production capacity allows a reduction of the lead time of projects and that is a significant competitive advantage,” says Zoltan. “Of course the support of the CRH Group in terms of finance and expertise allows for a calm operation.”

Ferrobeton constantly seeks to modernise its product portfolio to deliver market-leading designs to its clients. A recent example is the application of a 44 metre bridge beam, able to span a six lane

motorway without intermediate supports. The benefits of this design are that it is more cost effective all in all, needs no supplementary protection due to intermediate columns and results in a shorter construction time.

Moving forward, Ferrobeton has a solid foundation on which it can build a solid platform for growth.

Having restored profitability in

the face of the global downturn throughout the construction market, the company will use the lessons and indeed the strengths it has taken from the crisis and seek to extending its holdings within its current markets and beyond. m

Ferrobeton www.ferrobeton.hu Construction & Civil Engineering 29

PROFILE: Landert Motoren

Drive for success Celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2014, Landert Motoren AG today is one of the world’s leading companies for automatic doors

A

ctive on all five continents, independent Swiss family firm Landert Motoren AG has a long tradition of manufacturing specialist industrial products to find the best solutions for its customers.

Split into two divisions: TORMAX, for cutting-edge door automation solutions, and SERVAX, for the manufacture of customised electric motors, Bulach headquartered Landert Motoren AG has more than 700 dedicated employees at its 14 group companies throughout the world.

Speaking to Construction and Civil Engineering magazine

30 Construction & Civil Engineering

about the history of Landert Motoren AG, CEO Sonke Bandixen states: “Landert was founded in 1924 in Bulach, near Zurich,

by Heinrich Landert, a young Swiss entrepreneur who was fascinated by the opportunities that electrical motors offered to deliver new industrial solutions.

Since then Landert has developed and produced electrical drives for special purpose and for high efficiency applications of machine manufacturers in many industrial branches. It was in 1951 that Landert pioneered the use of automatic driven doors with the installation of Europe’s first electro-hydraulic swing door; we have since grown

constantly out of our home base in Switzerland and today have reached a turnover of CHF 120 million. Anja Landert, the granddaughter of the founder is chairwoman of the board of directors.”

As the original business of Landert Motoren AG, SERVAX is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of customised electric motors, a reputation gained from a focus on developing high quality, innovative products and its dedication to forming close working relationships with customers. Through retaining these integral strengths, SERVAX creates outstanding solutions for challenging machine drives that offer impressive performance, a

long life cycle, simple maintenance, safe operation and reliability.

“We are not competing in the wide segment of mass produced standard drives and differentiate ourselves through technology and quality,” highlights Sonke.

“This commitment to quality over quantity has resulted in SERVAX developing drives for the major machine manufacturers in Europe and North America.”

With a mission to provide ‘peak performance for life-long contented customers’, Landert Motoren AG’s second division, TORMAX, is based on the company’s own electrical drive developments. As the sole engineers and designers

aújváros

Factory Dun

of all electrical drives used within its automatic doors, TORMAX base a large part of its installed drives on the external rotor motor principle; this offers significantly longer service cycles than standard DC drives. Represented in five continents and boasting a finely interlinked international network of more than 500 local sales partners and subsidiaries, the division ensures availability of its high quality products and services in over 50 countries. “TORMAX is a pioneer and specialist for advanced door automation solutions; we believe in our capability to generate customer benefits through cleverly engineered drive and control technology as well as the tight management of a world-wide supply chain,” states Sonke.

With a core product range that includes sliding doors, swing doors, revolving doors and folding doors, TORMAX products can be used as fire and smoke doors,

safe emergency exits, effective protection against burglary and vandalism and also offer barrierfree access that removes some of the restrictions faced by handicapped people. In addition to standard applications, TORMAX can manufacture customised doors and hermetic doors that are equipped with a circumferential hermetic sealing system for use in laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry or clean-room production.

Through the operation of two distinctive brands, the company has developed a strong foothold in strategic locations around the world and can rely on the diversity of its product range to

Construction & Civil Engineering 31

PROFILE: Landert Motoren

market share on a moderate scale.

Meanwhile, in North America and Asia/Pacific we are growing double digit per cent per annum and are therefore focusing our growth initiatives to these markets. The swing door applications are growing stronger than the slider segment,” explains Sonke.

Operating in a period where demand for electrical motors continues to grow and the door automation market continues to be driven by mega trends, Landert Motoren AG benefits from spikes in demand that stem from changes in regulations and increased attention to the accessibility requirements of more vulnerable members in society. “The CO2 reduced energy usage will require millions of specially engineered and produced electrical motors around the world for decades to

ensure continued growth when certain economic markets become challenging. “The European markets are currently somewhat flat; however with special offerings we can still grow and expand our

We live Aluminium Our products and services are as varied as aluminium in its applications.

We produce extrusions, including both unprocessed semi-finished goods (solid and hollow profiles, pipes, forged bars) and processed system components.

Secondly, we produce slugs from continuous casting and rolling, sheet metal blanks or profiles and bars.

Aluminium-Werke Wutöschingen AG & Co.KG P.O. Box 11 20 79791 Wutöschingen Germany Phone Fax E-mail Internet

32 Construction & Civil Engineering

+49 (0)7746/81-0 +49 (0)7746/81-217 info@aww.de www.aww.de

come. Meanwhile, an increased need for automated solutions for the elderly and handicapped as well as a constantly growing population of value added buildings in emerging markets means our markets are closely bonding with the cyclical construction industries,” says Sonke.

Despite these opportunities in the market, the company faces challenges as larger conglomerates continue to acquire smaller door automation firms in Europe and Asia/Pacific, which causes constant pressure on prices and forces manufacturers to find innovative ways to optimise their supply chain.

To ensure continued growth and success Landert Motoren AG is relocating its central production and logistic operations from Switzerland to a new plant in Prague, Czech Republic, as Sonke concludes: “This move will generate cost synergies and will allow us to optimise our supply chain further. With new products for sliding and swing doors applications we are supporting our growth plans and are envisioning a continuous above average growth rate.” m

Landert Motoren AG www.landert.com Services: Develop and produce special purpose electrical drives

PROFILE: Dubai Contracting Company

Enviable reputation Established in 1962, Dubai Contracting Company (DCC) is today a leading middleeastern construction company

Construction & Civil Engineering 33

PROFILE: Dubai Contracting Company

I

t prides itself on embodying Bridge beam a spirit of commitment and trust that is unique to a construction organisation, and it has established an enviable reputation through three generations of leadership in the same family.

Today DCC specialises in building residential, commercial and mixeduse buildings and hospitality and leisure complexes, and is focused on projects that are designed and built to the highest quality standards available in the industry.

The collective portfolio of DCC projects has grown rapidly in the past few years and includes some of the finest landmarks in the Gulf region. These include the 21 storey AD-1 Tower in Abu Dhabi, the Trunk of Palm Hotel, Jumeirah, Dubai, and the mixed-use 63 storey Rolex Tower, in Dubai.

Furthermore, its impressive order book for the future contains several new and prestigious projects, such as the Brightstart beach resort and the Kingdom of Sheba mixed use residential and leisure luxury resort that is situated on the Crescent of the Palm in Jumeirah, Dubai.

In addition to the growth in the portfolio of its buildings, it has also enjoyed a significant expansion in the geographical base of its operations both within the UAE and further afield in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The company has also developed the scope of its services beyond standard contracting to include complete turnkey solutions.

For example, in 2012, it signed a turnkey contract for Saraya’s W Amman hotel and tower project in Amman – Jordan. The project is located in the Al-Abdali development area in downtown, which is considered to be Jordan’s new financial and commercial district. The hotel consists of 36 floors with commercial and retail amenities. The W hotel is a five-star luxury hotel operator that is part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts worldwide. The civil works

34 Construction & Civil Engineering

commenced during the first half of 2013 with an expected completion date towards the fourth quarter of 2015.

However, although the work undertaken by DCC has grown significantly, it still retains the original dedication to quality that has been the hallmark of the company since the first day. By applying industry-leading standards to its projects, DCC ensures that both the company and the client are proud of the final product. Attention to detail permeates throughout the entire organisation, and strict adherence to proven international standards and procedures have allowed DCC to build a reputation as one of the best contractors in the Middle East. Such adherence to quality also means DCC is able to deliver projects on time, and on budget. DCC’s continuous dedication to quality is inextricably linked to its commitment to integrity, honesty and transparency.

This steadfastness has played a key role in driving its process, and is intrinsically part of every DCC activity.

It is also applied to and expected from all of DCC’s stakeholders, including its partner companies,

suppliers and subcontractors.

Indeed, by never compromising on these principles, the organisation has been able to surround itself with a loyal group of companies, creating a team of organisations able to tackle the most complex projects.

These partners are very carefully chosen for their expertise and dedication to quality, and they include Al Bonian, OPTC, ITWORKS and Studitalia. To assure that its clients have preferred access to these services, DCC has strengthened its ties to these companies by making them official associates.

DCC’s approach to its projects is also another aspect that sets it apart from the competition.

Visitors to a DCC site won’t find the usual mayhem of a construction site – the company prides itself on maintaining a prevailing air of organised workflow, cleanliness and order. This had become a visible manifestation of DCC’s disciplined attitude to the construction process and it is enabled by a toolbox of construction resources that always contains the latest and best in technology and expertise.

In addition, it constantly hones this edge by perfecting its competitive, cost-effective construction processes. Clients reap the benefits in buildings that are built on time and on budget, and reflect the overall attitude - they are testaments to quality, in steel, concrete and glass.

It would not be possible for DCC to maintain its position as a quality leader without the right team of staff on the ground and back at headquarters. Recruiting the right people is of paramount importance, as is the constant upgrade of the skills of its people to assure that their expertise is first class. The company advertises vacancies on its comprehensive website, and its requirements for the right qualifications are stringent and highlight its focus on a quality end product.

DCC also recognises that continuous employee improvement is only one part of being a responsible company, and that means it directs attention to being a contributing member of the community as well. This programme

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includes environmental preservation principles, and DCC also regularly provides extensive support to education courses and charitable entities in its operating environment.

The company has spent the past five decades building a company that truly reflects its founder’s ambitions. As Abdallah H. Yabroudi, CEO states on www.dcc-group. com: “Our vision has been clear and consistent from day one. DCC built its reputation on quality. In pursuit of that goal we have worked with discipline and dedication to continually raise the bar on our quality standards. Today we have reached the highest level of professionalism in the construction industry and have been rewarded by our clients’ trust and ongoing satisfaction.” m

www.dcc-group.com

Construction & Civil Engineering 35

PROFILE: KTC GROUP

Team

builders

Structural Works to Casino Building at Integrated Resort

The KTC Group is one of Singapore’s leading civil engineering enterprises

East Coast Parkway Diversion

T

he organisation has achieved unparalleled expertise in largescale excavation, earth moving and civil construction works, and has developed close relationships with Singapore’s leading infrastructure developers and large contractors.

Thanks to the ready availability of critical earth moving equipment inhouse, huge capacity and seasoned project management expertise KTC’s clients are able to treat the company as a partner they can rely on for each and every project.

The Civil & Infrastructure segment of KTC Group is essentially the group’s flagship company – KTC Civil Engineering & Construction

36 Construction & Civil Engineering

Pte Ltd. Yeap Yu Kong is director of infrastructure at the company, and he highlighted that the organisation had grown from humble beginnings into the impressive corporation it is today: “KTC began in 1988 as an earth moving and haulage contractor,” he began. “Over the years we have grown and developed, and in 2007/2008 became very active in a more extended range of industries.

“We expanded into the design

and construction of expressways, and we are now active in the building of bridges, underpasses and substructures as well. Our focus is on transport related construction projects, and here in Singapore there is more than enough work to keep us active,” added Yu Kong.

“Over the past two years there have been 25 billion dollars worth of projects in the market and we have been actively participating in all many major civil engineering and infrastructure projects including the construction of a road between TPE and Yishun Avenue 6, and the EastWest Transmission Cable Tunnel.

“We are also involved with preparation work for a large rail depot in Singapore, which involves massive earthworks removal, as well as the construction of two very large bus parks or depot, for which we are responsible for preparing the ground and building the substructure and infrastructure.”

Yu Kong pointed out that KTC’s current work on a metro (mass rapid

transit) station is the most complex in the company’s history. “This is located in a densely built area of Singapore, and this means that managing noise and consideration for the environment and pollution are big challenges that need to be managed,” he said.

Meeting the needs of projects such as this requires investment and innovative thinking, and these are both areas where KTC is at the forefront of the market. “We monitor various key measures, and one of these is to constantly to look at the latest technology and how it can be utilised,” he said. “So items such as low noise machines, like silent generators and silent excavators are useful when working in residential areas, and we both buy and hire items such as this.

“We also spend a lot of time

Tampines Central

Station

educating the workforce and site management teams, and discussing issues with stakeholders, as well as encouraging new ways of working.

The skill set and mind set must also change with the times as well, otherwise a company can’t move forward and grow.” In fact, Yu Kong credits the drive and commitment of the managers and staff of KTC for the company’s market leading position: “Sometimes it is really the team that make the difference,”

he stated. “Commitment and dedication are key ingredients, and we have staff that have worked with us since we were founded in 1988 and we have been through the process of development together where the history and company culture are formed as driving forces.”

In order to continuously develop and maintain a high level of inhouse engineering skills KTC also offers numerous scholarships at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels: “These are part of our succession plans,” commented Yu Kong. “There are presently four undergrad scholarships and two MSc scholarships, which were created because our company founder has always been very keen in investing in HR, he always believed

Construction & Civil Engineering 37

PROFILE: KTC GROUP

Construct

ion of Sk ypark

Cabin interior

parts

Realignment of East Coast Parkway that the right people at the right positions and good leadership are essential for success. These study programmes highlight that we are prepared to plan for the very long term - ten to 20 years down the line - because we know that we can’t move on without young leaders and young engineers and managers. We need these to survive.”

He added: “Of course there are other ways of looking at growth as well as accumulation of skills and management knowhow, including business turnover and quality control and safety management.

In advanced markets such as the UK and US a lot of weight is put on safety so we are also emphasising this area in order to work to the same standards as these markets.”

For the rest of 2014 KTC has several major projects underway, and is actively involved in bidding on more underground and railway work. “We understand our strengths and do not see a need to diversify into other fields of construction immediately. That being said, there are investigations underway into the area of bored tunnelling, as this could be a promising area to

38 Construction & Civil Engineering

, CAT

ction Basement Constru

for MICE Building

rt

at Integrated Reso

Engine hood

develop.”

With so many projects on the cards the Singapore market is becoming increasingly competitive and international companies are arriving to compete for contracts, which makes it even more important for KTC to remain innovative and at the top of its game. Raising the productivity with advanced technology and skilled labour force with new thinking at the management level will raise the company’s competiveness in the

industry. “This makes our willingness to embrace the new ways of working even more significant, as we have to change,” concluded Yu Kong. “We can’t stay with the old ways, we have to embrace the new while developed the existing skills to maintain our leading position.” m

KTC Group www.ktcgroup.com.sg Services: Civil Engineering

FOREWORD ITA

The

third

dimension

When it comes to encouraging and promoting the use of subsurface space, the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) is the world’s most experienced resource

E

stablished in 1974 and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the ITA was created to support the use of the subsurface space for the benefit of public, environment and sustainable development and to endorse advances in planning, design, construction, and safety construction of tunnels and underground spaces.

Formed by 19 countries, today it has 71 member nations and 310 corporate or individual affiliate

Olivier Vion: executive director of the ITA

members. As Olivier Vion, executive director of the ITA explained, these members take the form of associations, where each association represents a country.

“We function as a UN body, with UN status, and that means each country gets one vote, regardless of the size of the population they represent,” he said.

One of the major benefits of being a member of the ITA is access to an enormous range of information and experience. Said Olivier: “Our main purpose is to

share technical knowledge between different parties and countries. This can be from places that have been building tunnels for centuries to ones that are just beginning or even haven’t built any tunnels yet. This knowledge exchange is facilitated through technical working groups that cover different topics, and can include members from any member country.”

Another benefit to members is that the entire supply chain of tunnelling and underground space is represented through ITA

Construction & Civil Engineering 39

membership, from design and economics all the way through to planning, engineering, contracting and supplies, and all these roles participate in working groups.

Furthermore, member nations can create a working group on a subject that is particularly of interest or relevance to them, or one on which they are looking for an international perspective.

Soren Eskesen, ITA president, noted that while some of the topics for these working groups have stayed the same since the

40 Construction & Civil Engineering

ITA was established, some have finished and new ones started “There is no limit to the number of working groups we can introduce, except practically,” he said “At the moment there are 14 active working groups, and in addition we now have committees, and these differ because the participants are companies rather than countries.

We have four committees: safety, training, the use of underground space and new technology.”

While of course safety is a top priority, Olivier highlighted the

Soren Eskesen: ITA president

fact that training and recruitment are getting a lot of scrutiny at the moment and this is likely to continue, especially as the amount of global underground projects continues to grow: “Many countries lack enough skilled people in this area and we have seen that in the UK on the Crossrail project, where they have had to create a lot of training programmes, and that will continue with HS2. Indeed, this is the case in many countries as the total market for underground work continues to increase.

“The main market is China, but Europe, the US and South America are all seeing a lot of projects on the horizon and to deliver these we need to have more skilled people such as engineers, but also blue collar workers.

“This is why we are so actively working on our committee on training, and why we are organising training sessions all over the world.”

Since it was established, the training committee has reached several milestones, including the creation of the concept of the ITA University Network, aiming to facilitate training and education actions, the exchange of students and professors, and the interaction of research; the creation of Training Sections (short-courses), the endorsement of Professional Master Courses on Tunnelling at international and national levels; and the creation of a task force on Training and Education to study the perspectives of these actions for the future of the ITA and how to implement and co-ordinate them.

It is clear that the ITA is a

FOREWORD ITA

highly regarded and influential organisation, and the findings and conclusions of its working groups and committees have far reaching effects. Olivier noted this was especially true in the safety arena: “Our safety working group is recognised worldwide for producing guidelines that are used by many countries,” he confirmed.

“ITA COSUF is the Centre of Excellence for worldwide exchange of information and know-how regarding safety and security of underground facilities in operation.”

Design challenges As cities become more congested and the population increases, underground tunnelling and the use of subspace offers designers and planners an option of expansion that is sustainable and can offer better quality of life. Soren noted: “When you move areas like traffic

place to not only visit suppliers at the exhibition side, but to network and learn from colleagues and new contacts: “At our conference the papers and technical solutions are often presented by designers, but the reason our conference is so successful is because it brings these people and contractors and owners together in a very useful knowledge exchange,” he said.

Over the four decades the ITA has been in existence it has witnessed many changes, in areas including technology, learning and safety. As Olivier highlighted: “Thanks to an incredible evolution of equipment and technology, it is now possible to build facilities and tunnels that could not have been constructed 30 or 40 years ago.” Soren agreed: “It’s true to say that the ‘easy’ tunnels have already been built,” he added. But as evolving nations start to create their own underground solutions, and first world countries share the wisdom of their experience, the next 40 years of tunnelling and subspace look set to be as exciting and innovative as those that came before. zz

ITA’s next event is the World Tunnel Congress 2014

underground you also move the noise and dust. It can also help to continue a growing economy as if a city gets too congested it may not be able to expand where it needs to – one solution to this is to consider the underground space.”

This inevitably brings design challenges, but this again is an area where ITA has a vast repertoire of experience and is one often discussed at the Association’s annual conference. Soren explained that this event has become an ideal

(WTC2014), which will be held in the city of Foz do Iguaçu/ Iguassu Falls, Brazil, from May 9th to 15th, 2014. Focusing on ‘Tunnels for Better Living’, WTC 2014 will discuss and illustrate the importance of tunnels, especially in big cities, as solutions for traffic jams, flooding, transportation, environmental conservation and also for saving surface areas for nobler uses, such as leisure and human relations.

WTC 2014 will host a large meeting of the Brazilian and international technical community, involving a spectrum of participants – public managers, builders, designers, equipment suppliers, engineering service companies, professors, professionals and students. Together, tunnel experts will discuss and put forward solutions that are most appropriate and used on a global scale.

WTC will also be the place for many ITA activities, meetings of WGs and Committees’ activity groups, and the ITA General Assembly, which is also going to see the launch of a Young Members Group, designed to attract a younger audience to the ITA. For more information on WTC 2014, visit:

http://www.wtc2014.com.br/.

Construction & Civil Engineering 41

PROFILE: LNS

Leonhard Nilsen & Sønner AS (LNS) is one of Norway’s largest contractors. The company specialises in solving demanding projects in areas that pose difficult logistics challenges

Overcoming the

challenge 42 Construction & Civil Engineering

T

he company’s core activities include road and tunnel construction, and mining – in fact, LNS owns several mines and also operates mines on behalf of several mining companies.

In recent years, LNS has been involved in several major projects, plus it also built the UN Global Seed Vault on Svalbard. The company

TBM assem

bly

bly

TBM assem

Workers on their

way to work

it decided to use a tunnelboring machine (TBM). TBM has not been used in Norway for more than 20 years, and with this project, the company is bringing back the TBM knowledge to the tunnel industry in Norway.

LNS Group

Preparing for blasting has broad international experience, having completed projects on Iceland and Greenland, as well as in Antarctica. It has also established separate companies in Iceland and Chile, and is now completing a major tunnelling project in Hong Kong.

Over the years, LNS has taken a leading role in introducing new technology, and on its latest project in Norway, a hydropower project,

The company is part of the LNS Group, which has five core areas of activity: l Tunnels, rock caverns l Road construction l Mining contracts l Earth moving l Concrete production Within these areas, it employs approximately 900 employees and had a turnover of NOK 1.8 billion in 2012.

LNS was established in 1961 and since then the company has expanded to become a major global engineering group that includes 15 highly specialised companies.

The latest company established

is LNS Saga, located in Iceland. The ongoing activities extend around the globe from the Antarctic and Eastern Europe, to South America, Asia and the South Pole. Its key clients are predominantly mining companies, hydropower businesses and the Public Roads Administrations in Norway.

New projects that LNS is starting within 2014 are a harbour development in western Norway, a road- and tunnel construction in northern Norway and a road- and tunnel construction on the Faroe Islands. Recently LNS finished a research station built for the Norwegian Polar Institute on Bouvet Island. Bouvet Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world, and 93 per cent of the island is covered by glaciers.

LNS’ many years of operations in the Antarctic have also provided it with unique expertise in the areas of polar mining and logistics operations. The construction and mining industries are in a constant process of change and the demands placed on contractors such as LNS, continues to grow.

In order to meet these demands it has become increasingly important to focus on a variety of forms of collaboration in order to achieve improved project coordination, faster problem identification and resolution. The objective is

Construction & Civil Engineering 43

PROFILE: LNS

also to achieve stable, long-term relationships that yield better, more cost-effective outcomes. LNS has experience with many different forms of project collaboration which includes the forming of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Joint Ventures (JV’s), strategic alliances and project collaboration with individual operators.

A recent example of the benefits of working in partnership with other specialists is exemplified by the company’s joint venture with Leighton Asia Ltd., which secured a contract worth NOK 2.1 billion for a major sewage tunnel project in Hong Kong. This extensive project is part of the Hong Kong government’s Harbour Area Treatment Scheme.

The project involves planning and driving a 7.5km tunnel with five shafts, each varying from 70 to 120 metres long through a busy

Global seed vault

Galvano Tia Galvano Tia was established in 1955 and we are one of the biggest manufactures of bolts and embedded parts for rock support and Frost/ water proofing, in Scandinavia.

We offer: l Fully grouted bolts l Anchored bolts l Combination bolts l Spiling bolts. l Rockfall protection systems We also offer anticorrosion and longevity increase with hot galvanization and powder coat from our own factory in Norway. Our products are widespread in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Faroe Islands in different projects; railway tunnels, road tunnels, water power plants, mines and slope protection.

We are proud to have been one of LNS’s preferred vendors over several years.

part of the metropolis and harbour and more than 160,000 cubic metre of concrete will be required.

This is because the tunnel runs partly below the sea and partly below office buildings in Hong Kong. The tunnel excavation will finish in November 2014 and the tunnel lining and the lining of the shafts will go on until autumn

NORWAY

GALVANO TIA Your reliable partner for Rock Support, Frost/Water proofing, anticorrosion and longevity increase manufacturer in Norway from 1955.

All our bolts are produced, hot-dip galvanized and powder coated, locally produced at our own factory.

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44 Construction & Civil Engineering

www.galvanotia.no

Inside a tunnel

2015. This project has given the organisation some challenges that it is not used to. There have been many regulatory requirements that are unusual for a Norwegian entrepreneur. This combined with the experience it has gained through the joint venture with Leighton has given LNS a better understanding to enter into new

A breakthrough

projects abroad.

Concludes Frode Nilsen: “The bottom line is that you have to find the optimal solutions and be as efficient, reliable and cost-effective as practicable. We are number one in the mining and tunnels sectors as well as being a major contender in all our other areas of activity.

This is thanks to our commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes at all times for our customers.� m

LNS www.lns.no Services: Road & tunnel construction

The Industrial Warehouse in Norway We develop solutions for the future in collaboration with our customers.

With LNS we have an integrated supply service, which allow LNS to focus on their job, and fully trust they always ďŹ nd as required in our containers, placed at designated areas in agreement with LNS. We bring the goods to our customers, whether it is a factory site, storage location or remote area. AEO has 18 industrial warehouses covering all of Norway.

They are organized in 5 regions were we support the customer with quality brands in a wide range of products (from personal protection, work wear, tools, screws and so on, to heavier machine tools, pumps, welding machines and bearings).

www.aeo.no

Construction & Civil Engineering 45

PROFILE: Sandvik Construction

Pekka Nieminen

Pioneering innovations andmarket-oriented solutions

T

he history of Sandvik group began in 1855 in Sandviken, Sweden when Goran Goransson purchased a small ironworks factory and successfully produced the first high quality steel based on the Bessemer method. Forming Sandvik in 1862, he acquired the rights to use the method and began manufacturing finished products such as saws and steel tubes.

Over 150 years later, Sandvik’s

46 Construction & Civil Engineering

business idea still is to develop, manufacture and market highly processed products that contribute to improving the productivity and profitability of its customers.

The company primarily targets specialized core niches where it is, or has the potential to be, a world leader. Sandvik Group is divided into five business areas: Construction, Mining, Machining Solutions, Materials Technology and Venture.

Today, Sandvik is known, among other things, as the world’s

leading supplier of rock excavation equipment, tools and services for the mining and construction industries where it mostly propelled itself through organic growth and acquisitions. This is also how the drilling expertise was brought to the company: In 1997, Sandvik acquired a Finnish drilling equipment manufacturer Tamrock Oy. This expertise today prospers in two business areas of the Sandvik Group namely in Sandvik Mining and in Sandvik Construction.

Sandvik DT1131i tunneling jumbo

Sandvik DP1500i surface top hammer drill rig

tools being built of recyclable components and materials.

Manufacturers are also developing oil spillage protection and the machines’ ability to use biodegradable oils only.

“Automation is of course on the agenda. In the past few years, remote access has come into the picture as well,” says Mr. Nieminen.

“Remote-controlled units represent the latest technology in the field even if there still are some safetyrelated limitations in their use.”

At the same time, there is another strong key driver brought into the picture by the ever-more increasing globalization: A growing need for basic machines that mechanize the excavation process and increase productivity but without sophisticated automation systems.

Pioneering innovations

Sandvik iSure

Pekka Nieminen, Product Area President, Breaking, Surface Drilling and Tunneling at Sandvik Construction, says that Sandvik Group aims at setting the industry standard. “We are a growth oriented company. We strive to be truly global and, despite our large size, also agile and flexible and ready to meet the needs of our customers with new pioneering innovations, market-oriented technological solutions and excellent service”.

view

In construction industry, safety and environmental issues have continuously grown in importance, in particular during the past ten years. “Today, all manufacturers also put a strong focus on operator environment,” Mr. Nieminen points out. “The amount of noise, dust and vibration in operator compartments has to be minimised, and new ways of decreasing those even more are being developed”.

Another strong trend is the requirement of equipment and

“At Sandvik increased requirements set by customers and projects have definitely been the main drivers of technological development, the most important of those being cost efficiency, safety, excavation quality and productivity. We have responded to these challenges with thorough research of the industry needs and the development of intelligent, accurate and safe drilling technology”, Nieminen describes.

An example of that development is, in the field of tunnelling, the intelligent Sandvik DTi tunnelling jumbo series that was launched a few years ago. These jumbos represent the absolute top-ofthe-line in the business, similar to the Sandvik iSURE, an excavation process management tool that is quite revolutionary in its approach – and has received a lot of praise in the industry for the excellent results it delivers as well as for its userfriendliness.

Alongside tunnelling, surface drilling technology at Sandvik has developed over the past few years.

“Customer needs have always been the driver for any development in this field too,” Nieminen points

Construction & Civil Engineering 47

PROFILE: Sandvik Construction

out. “Lately, this has resulted in the development of solutions for low fuel consumption, various kinds of automation systems as well as a range of noise and dust decreasing systems, for example.

“A few years back, we introduced a new type of computercontrolled surface top hammer rig, the Sandvik DPi. This rig features a range of automation and reporting features and offers excellent productivity and very low fuel consumption. The covers of the Sandvik DPi won a design competition in Finland as their structural design ingeniously combines functionality and simplicity, giving a clear competitive edge for the whole lifetime of the product.”

But Sandvik has not only focused on intelligent automated drilling solutions but also developed robust,

Sandvik DT1131i in Norway

productive and user-friendly basic units. “Based on the customer needs, we are about to launch a new surface top hammer rig that is targeted at markets outside of Europe and the USA,” Nieminen sheds light on the upcoming developments.

It would not be possible to launch such products without maintaining a constant focus on the market, in order to try and predict what topics will be at the top of the agenda going forward. In its quest to provide productive solutions to customers, it is clear that Sandvik Construction has remained dedicated to investing heavily in research and development of new products. Continuing into the future with a growing product range, the company is set to make a real vital impact on the tunneling and surface drilling industries. m

Sandvik Construction www.construction.sandvik.com Services: Specialist mining and construction equipment 48 Construction & Civil Engineering

PROFILE: KASI

Concrete plans Following the construction of a new foundry, privately owned Czech firm KASI, spol. s r. o. is developing its foothold in surrounding countries

E

stablished in 1992 with the aim of being the sole supplier of a broad range of sewage related products for concreting plants, KASI today is a leading manufacturer of sewage castings, street and yard grilles, adjustment rings, manhole covers, manhole steps and covers for plastic pipes for the construction industry. “KASI is a privately owned Czech company, with two private owners. We have five main work shops in the Czech Republic, which is a major strength for us as it is our main goal to deliver local production to local industries and businesses,” explains Jakub Albrecht, sales manager of KASI. “Our main focus is on manufacturing, however we are also a design and sales company with a wide range of products that are mostly equipment for concreting plants and companies in need of manholes, gully elements and pipes.”

Elaborating further on the history of the company, Jakub adds: “In the beginning, the business was centred around producing parts for concreting machines and plants. We then designed our own system technology and increased our activities, which at first only involved sales for manholes. However, both owners understood that the future was in manufacturing and they began preparing facilities that led to KASI producing almost 90 per cent of products ourselves. This has been our strategic plan for 21 years and now we have our own workshops and casting foundries; we acquire raw material and produce independently. The only items in our product range that we don’t produce are specialised products, as own production is not an efficient option.”

Construction & Civil Engineering 49

PROFILE: KASI

Dedicated to delivering an efficient, high quality product to its customers, KASI decided to stop buying from China and India and instead begin independently supplying to its customers in 2005. This transitional period resulted in a decrease in sales and the company proving its abilities once again to companies it had previous relationships with. “When

pour-tech AB Today Kasi is an important customer for pour-tech AB. In 2011 pour-tech AB took over the business from KOINS for the European and African market and it has made improvements of the automatic pouring system and developed a number of new important features for casting quality. The latest development is the laser-controlled inoculation monitoring system. All systems are built in Sweden and Germany and the company supplies tailor made turnkey solutions.

50 Construction & Civil Engineering

we stopped buying from China we developed a brand new foundry in the Czech Republic, which was completed in 2011. It is one of the five most modern foundries in Europe and has the most state-ofthe-art technology in the country,” enthuses Jakub. “It is capable of grey and ductile iron production, and is equipped with furnaces from UK, moulding line from Germany, an automatic vibrating transporting system, sand shop and automatic pouring device. All of this modern technology is connected by computers that communicate

with one another; this enables us to produce a capacity of 22,000 tonnes of metal a year, which is similar capacity to countries such as China, India and Turkey where they have more than 1000 employees. We produce the same amount at greater precision with 140 employees.”

Committed to continual improvements, KASI constantly adjusts and enhances its products to offer customers the best solution for their requirements. Notable innovations include adjustment rings that are used as manhole cover underlay to adjust covers at road level. Built in accordance with EN 1917 standard, the company offers three types of rings; differing in shape and bearing surface size, each ring type is chosen in relation to its underlying parts. For example, adjustment rings BAR, BARZS are used for frames and cover plates

produced in accordance with DIN V 4034-2 precast reinforced and unreinforced concrete components for soakaways and well shafts, while BAR-V, BAR-VS are used in accordance with DIN V 4034-1 prefabricated concrete manholes, unreinforced, reinforced and steel fibre for drains and sewers.

With a core client base of approximately 13 cementing companies in the Czech Republic, KASI’s strategic decision to build a new foundry three years ago has resulted in the innovative firm expanding into surrounding countries such as Poland, Austria, Germany and Slovakia.

Furthermore, with eastern and southeastern countries beginning to develop sewage infrastructure for the very first time, the company is keen to take advantage of these opportunities for further growth.

“The new foundry meant our capacity was raised, so the last two years have really been about getting back to where we were before through contacting old partners in Germany, Poland and other countries, while also expanding our reputation in areas such as Russia, the Ukraine and Baltic countries as well as Slovenia, Bosnia, Romania and Croatia. Other companies may have suffered in the recession, but to us the market is open as we didn’t have the capabilities to move into these markets before.”

Having built the foundations to become a wholly independent firm, the future looks optimistic for KASI as it continues to enhance its products and expand its foothold into new areas. Despite reaching its strategic goal, the dynamic firm sees opportunity for further growth, responding to market demand with the construction of a new warehouse and production hall.

Investing heavily in new technology and machinery, the new production hall will be place for polyurethane application to open more technical and technological opportunities in the future.

“We want to optimise our

product range, which is why we are installing cutting-edge technologies into our new warehouse and production hall. We also want to prepare rectangular manhole covers as we currently focus on round covers that are used in inland Europe, however rectangular covers are used in other areas such as the UK. We haven’t produced these yet, but we see an opportunity is there and we want to optimise it,” concludes Jakub. m

KASI www.kasi.cz/eng/ Services: Leading manufacturer of sewage products Construction & Civil Engineering 51

PROFILE: NORMET

Tunnel vision Networking beneath the surface, Normet has been supplying its specialist products to support the mining and tunnelling industry for 50 years

the

N

ormet was established in 1962 in Finland originally as Peltosalmi Metal Works. It was one of the pioneers in developing and manufacturing forest machines to be installed on farming tractors like winches, wood chippers, cranes and trailers. From the beginning of 1970, following a change in ownership, the Normet name was formed and the business began to manufacture

52 Construction & Civil Engineering

mining and tunnelling equipment leading to the majority of the company being purchased in 2005

by Cantell Oy. Under the new ownership focus was drawn on the sale of products and services having previously operated through distributors and agents. In 2006 Normet had sales and service locations in just three countries before an increase in network size that today promotes the company in 38 locations around

the world providing customers with the best possible service.

Complementing the geographical expansion and control of equipment sales, spare parts and servicing, Normet’s strategy was revised encompassing the new role as a solution provider for processes in underground mining and tunnelling.

Between 2005 and 2013 it was able to increase turnover by an average of 20 per cent each year. The company develops, manufactures

Charmec ith Normet Charging w emulsion charger LC 605 VEC

Spraymec 8100 VC

Concrete Sprayer Alpha30 underground

and markets machines as well as construction chemicals and specialised dynamic rock bolts for underground processes. Mobile robotised concrete spraying, highly mechanised explosive charging, underground logistics, scaling and rock reinforcement are services supported by the comprehensive range of lifetime care services.

In an interview with Construction and Civil Engineering, global marketing manager Jukka Pihlava

discusses the industry and the company’s forecasted growth: “In recent years in the mining industry the supply has been higher than the demand putting pressure on commodity prices.

The excess supply has led to the closure of unprofitable mines and postponing new mining projects.

Mining companies have changed their focus from production volume to the cost of production, which has led to decline in mining capital expenditure (Capex). However, in civil underground construction there is an increase in the number of infrastructure projects, especially in growing markets such as China, South East Asia and South America.”

As an example of its capabilities, Normet offers sprayed concrete processes in tunnel support, providing equipment for concrete spraying and underground transport, all chemicals and expertise in the whole process from the raw materials to the right strength sprayed concrete at the tunnel wall.

Forming part of Hong Kong’s largest ever sewage infrastructure

project, the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS), Normet has supplied, under Contract 24, over 20 items of equipment for concrete spraying, explosive charging and underground logistics. In addition, Normet provides a 24/7 service to the customer and technical support for the equipment fleet.

Water ingress requirements in the HATS project are stringent and Normet has also supplied considerable amounts of water sealing chemicals for the preexcavation grouting of the ground.

“We invest about four per cent of our turnover in the development of equipment and chemicals.

Our equipment technology centre, including the prototype manufacturing premises, is located in the main factory in Iisalmi, Finland,” Jukka highlights.

All R&D, engineering and documentation functions have been centralised in Finland, and products are developed in close partnership with customers as Jukka explains: “They are an inseparable part of the development and solutions are

Construction & Civil Engineering 53

PROFILE: NORMET

Concrete Spraying with Normet Spraymec SF 050 DV

d

ory in Finlan Normet fact

tested thoroughly before released.

Prototypes are first tested at the technology centre, then at the customer work site to be sure that the equipment is suited to their needs.

“Future development is focused on operations such as concrete spraying, explosive charging, man lifting, underground installation works, scaling, and man and material transport.

Modular platforms make it easy to change and add new functions to the equipment, from very basic transporters to fully automated selfpropelled rock support machines.”

Normet has established a competent and innovative team of chemists and material technologists responsible for developing construction chemicals. The major part of this team is based at the Global R&D Centre located at its premises in the UK, with additional chemical specialists in premises in Chile, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.

With a growing interest in equipment rental for the mining and construction machinery market, Normet has developed rental solutions for mining and tunnelling contractors as well as plant hire companies. “The demand for rental is a result of increased competition for contracts, size of projects, unpredictable market changes and optimisation of capital

54 Construction & Civil Engineering

employed,” says Jukka. Through rental agreements, customers are able to reduce their own fleets, avoid investments and minimise the risks of fleets. An integral part of the rental contract is service, which lowers the costs of maintenance and repair costs.

The entire range of equipment for mining and underground construction is manufactured in Finland i.e. equipment for concrete spraying and transport, lifting and installation, explosive charging, underground logistics and scaling. In Sweden the company manufactures equipment primarily for installation and finishing work in infrastructure tunnels, but also for mining, while in Chile it is manufacturing equipment for concrete spraying and transport (of different types and sizes than manufactured in Finland). Normet Chile is the only producer of specialised spraying robots and low profile transmixers for the application of wet sprayed concrete in Latin America.

Normet provides training for its personnel to ensure the shortage of

skills in the industry is not reflected within the company. Customers also receive industry standard tuition in the processes, through training delivered at customers’ sites and at the Normet Academy locations in Finland and India with concrete spraying, the most demanding underground process, involving classroom and simulator training before entering actual underground conditions.

The advanced simulator is an artificial cave where a 3D tunnel is projected to the walls, providing operators with the opportunity to learn techniques with different models of Normet concrete sprayers. The training covers spraying boom movements and tasks before spraying in different tunnel conditions with performance monitored based on the amount of rebound, the quality of spraying and the cost of sprayed concrete. Through the simulator training, an average 23 per cent improvement in operator efficiency has been achieved.

Moving into 2014 Normet remains committed to developing and supporting robust, sustainable solutions for the underground mining and tunnelling industries that enable its clients to excel with improved safety and productivity.

Summarising the vision over the next five years, Jukka concludes: “The mining industry will come back to its growth path as the commodity demand in emerging markets begins to grow. In addition, the demand for underground infrastructure projects such as metros, railways, roads, hydropower stations, fresh water and sewer plants and parking is continuously increasing in order to stimulate the economy and welfare in urban areas and global mega cities.” m

Normet OY www.normet.com Services: Machinery and equipment for the mining and tunnelling sector

PROFILE: Nuclear Engineering Services

Highly

active Nuclear Engineering Services (NES) has over six decades of nuclear experience, with the company’s origins dating back to John Thompson and the supply of the first nuclear reactor housing to Dounreay

T

oday the organisation specialises in the design, manufacture, assembly, test, installation and commissioning of bespoke solutions for the nuclear decommissioning, defence, and nuclear new build markets, and it has supplied an extensive range of equipment and solutions to most UK nuclear power stations, including fuel route, remote handling and inspection equipment, encapsulation and waste handling solutions, gloveboxes and shielded containments, and reprocessing equipment.

Split across three locations, Wolverhampton – Head Office, Risley – Centre of Engineering Excellence and Beckermet – North West Division, NES’s unique capabilities, facilities and experience ideally position the company to take

on a wide variety of projects on a national basis.

When it comes to the markets served by NES, Nuclear Decommissioning is one of its prime areas of expertise. The company has established a proven track record in this market and is currently tackling some of the largest technical and manufacturing challenges within the nuclear decommissioning programme.

Decommissioning As a result of the experience the company has accrued in this area, NES is able to operate as a standalone contractor tackling decommissioning projects, or take the lead as part of a larger framework agreement, providing specialist design, manufacture, assembly and test services.

Retaining all the required

engineering skills in-house, NES’ innovative approach to engineering ensures that all solutions are considered, before the best value option is pursued, managed and tightly controlled through Integrated Project Teams (IPTs).

The company has earned a highly respected name in the decommissioning sector and works with many recognisable names, including Sellafield. In fact, in July 2013, Jack Devine the chief decommissioning officer of Sellafield Ltd visited NES to see first-hand the progress on construction and commissioning of three silo emptying plant (SEP) machines.

The SEP machines will be responsible for emptying waste and sludge from the compartments in the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo and placing it in modern containment vessels ready for storage. Speaking

Construction & Civil Engineering 55

PROFILE: Nuclear Engineering Services

after the visit, Jack said: “After all the photos and presentations and discussions, seeing the actual SEP machines is really impressive - and a bit intimidating as well. This equipment is central to successful execution of the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo project. Working with NES we’ve made great progress but there’s a lot more to be done.

We’re looking forward to continuing, productive collaboration.”

Alongside decommissioning, NES also works with defence projects. It has 20 year’s experience in successfully developing and delivering innovative, bespoke services and solutions to the defence industry, building an excellent reputation and a loyal client base.

Typical contracts completed include remote handling and lifting equipment, fuelling and defueling plant, gloveboxes and enclosures,

56 Construction & Civil Engineering

Morson Projects Morson Projects’ Technical Services division specialises in the delivery of operational and maintenance contracts to the nuclear sector. Its operations focus on the underpinning of and adherence to nuclear site licence conditions and their associated supporting processes and procedures.

Morson Projects provides efficient and cost effective support, whilst complying with the safe operation and management of nuclear sites.

Specific capabilities include asset management, maintenance support, system drawing analysis and update, operations support, safety case support, configuration assessment, the production and review of technical documentation, commissioning support and the analysis, design and delivery of operator/maintainer training packages.

heat exchangers, design support and critical spares.

Using in-house capabilities, together with carefully selected specialist sub-contractors, working to defence standards 2781, NES is currently undertaking the design; servicing and repair of heat exchangers and associated pipe work for all in service HMS Royal Navy Nuclear Submarines, of which it is the OEM supplier. Servicing and repair activities can take place either at its works, or in-situ, using security cleared, suitably qualified experienced personnel. Whilst working on site, NES has established environmental agreements with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the Environmental Agency, Natural England, and Marine Scotland, for the safe disposal of waste items generated whilst working in-situ. NES has the

required facility to undertake any project up to the security level of Classified, with secure areas in both engineering and manufacturing, with access restricted to MoD cleared personnel only.

Nuclear new build The third area of speciality for NES is nuclear new build. Experience gained through its history and involvement in nuclear projects ideally places the business to meet the challenges and assist in the timely and safe delivery of the UK nuclear new build programme.

To address the needs of these highly technologically challenging sites, NES offers a range of services such as project management, engineering, manufacture and assembly, procurement, test and commissioning and installation.

To maintain the exceptionally high level of quality needed to work in sensitive market such as nuclear, NES has to ensure it invests in the latest technology, as well as adheres to the most rigorous specifications and legislation.

This policy of investment has resulted in NES creating a world class manufacturing facility, and in July 2013 the company hosted an event designed to showcase the various types of mechanical handling equipment that is used throughout the UK nuclear industry, as well as demonstrate its manufacturing competence and wherewithal to the nuclear industry.

The ‘Mechanical Handling Workshop’ was organised with the Nuclear Institute, Young Generations Network (YGN) and included presentations from guest speakers and a guided workshop tour of the NES manufacturing facility.

During the workshop tour, Nick Chown, head of business development at NES and Andrea Basso, head of engineering at NES, were able to give the delegates further information regarding the projects currently in a build state in the NES workshop, with more

explanatory details given by experts on site.

The visitors were given special access to the SEP mobile cave control rooms, to get a closer look and better understanding of how the machines work and are operated. They were also allowed access to the Replica Retrievals Rig (RRR) tower, bringing the sheer size of the silos to reality. The RRR tower is a 25m high test tower, built to replicate the size of silo, which the SEP mobile caves will be extracting waste from.

The tour also included a demonstration of NES’ waterjet cutting capabilities, the silo rake used on the SEP mobile caves, waste retrievals equipment for current contracts being delivered

by NES, and a tour of the new CNC machines currently being commissioned.

This type of event is a useful tool for NES, as it highlights not only its ability to meet the needs of the most demanding and critical projects in the world, but also its dedication to training, development and the future. It is this kind of activity that helps to cement NES’ position as the supplier of choice for the provision of unique engineering designs, manufactured products and services, which are recognised for consistently adding value, delivering excellence and delighting clients in the nuclear and defence markets. m

Nuclear Engineering Services Ltd www.nes-limited.com Services: Bespoke solutions for the nuclear market

25 Years Supplying the Nuclear Engineering Industry

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Construction & Civil Engineering 57

PROFILE: Bauwerk Boen Group

Layingthe

foundation

Despite a heavily saturated market, the Bauwerk Boen Group has established a leading reputation and is a strong global player in parquet hardwood flooring

T

he Bauwerk Boen Group can rightfully be considered one of the world’s leaders in hardwood parquet flooring. It benefits from a long history and the combined expertise of the Bauwerk and Boen brands, which collaborate in unison to provide the group with a synergy that sets it apart within the high-end parquet industry. Bauwerk Parkett AG was founded in 1944 and today

58 Construction & Civil Engineering

the company is the leading Swiss manufacturer and supplier of twolayer parquet. Boen Bruk AS can trace its roots back into the 17th century, when two sawmills were founded near the Norwegian city of Kristiansand. These mills would lay the foundations that would lead to Boen becoming the formost supplier of three-layer parquet that its clients would recognise today. With the completion of the merger of the two companies

in June 2013, Bauwerk Boen AG has consolidated its position as a leading supplier of high-end parquet throughout Europe and beyond.

Today the company maintains a staff of around 1400 employees and produces over eight million m2 of parquet per year.

The group is able to manage its market focus across its two brands, which enables it to offer targeted services to ensure that it is able to operate efficiently and

cost-effectively throughout the world. “Our Bauwerk brand has its main focus on distributing parquet, skirtings, glue and accessories for glue-down applications directly to European installers,” says CEO Klaus Brammertz. “Whereas our Boen brand’s main focus is on distributing parquet and corresponding skirtings to the world market, which is supplied mainly via trade partners.”

The efficient management of a

single supply chain and world-class manufacturing facilities, including one of the world’s most advanced factories for hardwood flooring situated in Lithuania, greatly strengthens the synergy between the companies. Between its two brands, the group boasts a leading level of expertise and a rich history of innovation that has defined its leading position in the parquet market. Today the group primarily serves a European market, however its business is growing within Asia in China, Singapore and India, as well as in the United States.

Although the Bauwerk Boen Group is currently enjoying a growth in sales throughout its global operations, it is in the face of an increasingly challenging market as Klaus explains: “Hardwood flooring consumption has been in decline in Europe and had declined by five per cent between 2011 and 2012. The market in Southern Europe is currently very weak although other areas like Germany, Norway and Switzerland have seen small increases in trade.

Other market players remain very fragmented, there are still approximately 200 companies operating with huge overcapacities. Consolidation within the market has only started with Kährs/ Karelia, Tarkett and the Bauwerk Boen Group.”

To ensure that the company continues to grow and maintain is market position the group has

adapted to the changing tides of the industry and focused its operations where production is most cost-effective.

Within Austria for example, production has ceased while the company’s sales and marketing office will remain to continue to drive sales in the country, as Klaus elaborates: “The Salzburg facility was focused on small strip parquet, mainly used in projects, largely for the European market. Prices for these projects have declined by 40 per cent over the last five years. However, Austria still has the highest hardwood consumption on Earth and both the Bauwerk and Boen brands have strong positions there, which is why the group will retain its sales and marketing offices in the region.”

New location Further to this the group has recently completed the transfer of its production plant in Germany to its new location in Lithuania. “This move has been planned within Boen for quite some time,” Klaus explains. “The lamella cutting and press lines had previously been relocated to Lithuania in recent years. The main benefits of the move are increased efficiency and decreased production costs within a highly competitive market environment.”

As 2013 draws to a close and 2014 appears on the horizon the Bauwerk-Boen Group will contemplate how it intends to navigate the market over the coming year and beyond. At present it is enjoying growth of around six per cent despite the challenges posed by an uncertain market and competing companies and the group will seek to maintain this growth through innovation and strong service as well as through potential mergers and acquisitions.

Core to ensuring that the company is able to continue to deliver its world-class range of parquet

Construction & Civil Engineering 59

PROFILE: Bauwerk Boen Group

sia Abrasives

products are the group’s 1400 staff, whom the group routinely invests in to drive the company forward.

“Skilled personnel are key for us,” Klaus observes. “We work with standardised processes regarding

60 Construction & Civil Engineering

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individual target setting for all of our employees, as well as appraisal talks and individual training. We run team building events and seminars at al levels of the group and also a very well received talent development programme, which will soon be complimented with a senior management programme.

“Through these and managing the transitions in supply chain we aim to remain the preferred brands of our customers and to gain a sustainable market share in all of the group’s focused markets around the globe.

We will also run one of the largest new line launch programmes ever in both brands.” m

Bauwerk Boen Group www.bauwerk-boen.com Services: Parquet and skirting experts

PROFILE: EBEMA

Aesthetic

strengh Ebema is a leading name in the provision of concrete paving products

T

he Belgian family business can trace its roots back to 1946, when it began its life as a wholesaler of building materials, before growing into a widely regarded supplier of high quality, concrete paving products for public spaces. Its aesthetically designed products have found applications across a range of locations including, bus stops, swimming pools and cemeteries as well as numerous village and town centres across Benelux, Germany and France.

Today, Ebema is active within two key markets specialising in concrete paving products for public authorities, municipalities, engineering offices and contractors under the Ebema brand name, while its Stone & Style brand delivers products for garden, terraces and

KNIELE KNIELE Mischtechnik is a leading, international supplier of turnkey mixing plants. Kniele’s specialty is mixing equipment for specific functions, such as hazardous waste treatment (dust, slurry), soil treatment (recycling), dry mixtures, brick / ceramics and glass industry, mixed gravel processing, polystyrene concrete, plaster and clay, epoxy resin, fodder, floating screed, etc. The Cone Mixer allows the production of liquid and earth-moist concretes, fiber concrete, light or heavy concretes and special concrete types like SCC and UHPC as well as dry mixtures. The Laboratory Cone Mixer is in use in educational institutions, research and material testing institutes.

other outdoor applications. This range is distributed exclusively through construction dealers throughout Belgium, The Netherlands and France.

With a workforce of 200 highly competent employees operating across two locations in Zutendaal and Rijkevorsel, Ebema is able to achieve a turnover of €40 million in its main markets within its home country of Belgium as well as the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Key to this success has been the firm’s dedication to forming long-term relationships with its clients, as CEO Jan Panis explains: “The basis for a long-standing customer relationship is to provide an excellent quality coupled with an outstanding service at the right price. Additionally, Ebema pays close attention to training customers and we like to maintain strong, personalised contact with the company’s clients.

“We build a long-lasting collaboration with our suppliers in order to achieve a win-win relationship and we intend to continue to achieve this by pursuing a spirit of open cooperation.”

One of the ways that Ebema maintains its close ties with its customers and suppliers is through the organisation of company

Construction & Civil Engineering 61

PROFILE: ebema

visits. The company opens its doors to visiting groups of around 25-30 people from various associations, enterprises, institutions and schools where visitors can ask professional Ebema guides questions regarding the company and the products important to them.

Ebema has also invested significantly to ensure it has the very best in production facilities.

Its plant in Rijvevorsel is specialised in the construction of customised, tailor-made products, such as prefab elements for railways, dyke reinforcements as well as smooth objects made of self-compacting concrete.

During October 2013, the company announced the opening of its new facility in Zutendaal. The €20 million project brings with it increased capacity, an ultramodern colorlab and office facilities as well as a new

factory setting covering 7000 square metres. The colorlab is the ideal location for Ebema to work in collaboration with architects and designers to develop new products, with a range of over 200 different materials and surface finishes. In addition to this, new machining facilities offer increased productivity through the development of several time saving measures. “Individuals, architects and public clients want increasingly distinguished unique design, colours, finishes and combinations of them,” says Jan. “In time we will even be able to produce on a project basis, which is a revolutionary concept.

“Two very time-consuming steps in the production process were drastically curtailed. The automatic exchange of molds takes only five minutes; the previous manual process took 30 minutes and

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62 Construction & Civil Engineering

The Aviena Circle is also greatly appreciated at exhibitions and product launch presentations and the first projects using the flag are underway. It is strongly felt that the Aviena Circle is a product that can give an extra touch to projects.”

Another important product to emerge has been the introduction of the company’s Megategels. Ebema was the first company to respond to consumer demand for greater freedom to enjoy their gardens and introduced flags 1x1m in size to accommodate increasingly elegant design. “The garden has become an extension of the home,” Jan explains.

“Just as the home is decorated in a certain atmosphere, attempts are made to distinguish the garden.

It is therefore no coincidence that trend-conscious consumers and landscaping architects are extremely charmed by the collection of large cleaning the machine now also runs partly automatically. Through these innovations Ebema offers a unique concrete factory in Europe, nowhere else can be so fast to respond to the changing needs of the market.”

During 2013, Ebema’s new aesthetic grass concrete flag Aviena Circle was used to tremendous effect in France’s Mantes-la-Jolie.

The €410 million urban renewal project saw five large apartment buildings demolished, 2500 houses renovated and 250 new businesses housed as well as the repair of roads, planting of trees and installation of an ultra-modern pool. The Aviena Circle concrete flag was co-created

by Ebema and French architect Maxime Saisse to provide a seamless integration between functional permeable paving and the natural environment.

Aviena Circle has attracted a great deal of interest from within the industry through high-profile projects like Mantes-la-Jolie and numerous trade shows, as Jan elaborates: “Architects and engineering offices are impressed by the product and see the added value that it can offer in the landscaping of outdoor spaces.

flags of Stone & Style by Ebema.

The Megategel collection makes it possible to design a garden fully tailored to a client’s house style.”

As it moves into 2014, Ebema will look to increase its reputation and reach in new geographic markets as well as developing new and innovative product lines. “Further collaborations with designers and architects abroad could play an important role in this,” Jan confirms. By increasing its global foot print and product portfolio in conjunction with a dedicated approach to treating its staff as the ‘first ambassadors’ of the company, Ebema is laying a strong path that will take it far into the future. m

Ebema www.ebema.com Services: Leading concrete paving products

HESS The HESS Group GmbH is an international concrete products machine manufacturer with over 700 employees.

A long-term policy of continuous innovations and the uncompromising application of futureorientated technologies are what help maintain the HESS Group’s current position as a major supplier to the concrete industry of complete systems on a worldwide scale.

Construction & Civil Engineering 63

PROFILE: Vitalo Global Thermoforming

Milling of thermoformed parts

Top

form

With a history that dates back to 1936, Vitalo Global Thermoforming has grown to become a leading name in the fabrication of plastic parts and systems for industry

T

oday the company employs more than 700 people and boasts a turnover of €70 million.

It carries full ISO 9001 and 14001 certification and through more than 75 years of experience it has developed a comprehensive knowledge base of expertise in plastic processing technologies including, thick and thin gauge thermoforming, insulation materials processing and thermo-compression of natural and synthetic fiber. This has allowed Vitalo to enter into a diverse portfolio of markets including electronics, medical, industrial applications and mass transport.

With manufacturing facilities throughout the world, Vitalo is able to expertly serve its customers both promptly and efficiently. Its manufacturing facilities are located in China, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Slovakia and Belgium. In addition to its manufacturing base, the company is headquartered

64 Construction & Civil Engineering

Milling of thermoformed parts

in Belgium, where it maintains a competence centre, which is complemented by further centres in China and the Philippines. Within these locations, Vitalo serves its varied markets, with applications ranging from protective packaging to heavy gauge machine panels, as global innovation project leader Steven Meyns observes: “Our electronics market is currently focused in the east, in countries like China, India, the Philippines

and Thailand. In the Philippines for example, we are currently doing a lot of work for hard disk drives and in China we are doing a lot of work for the telecom industry.

“Moreover, in Belgium we are currently very strong in agricultural machines. These are the larger machines such as harvesting equipment, where the materials used in the market are generally the same as those used in construction equipment. For every market segment our customers are the market leaders.”

A key part of the success of Vitalo and its use of thermoform technology is that it has an in depth understanding of the process and the advantages that its finished products are able to offer. “Our strength is that we know about thermoforming, we know the market and we also produce for all of the major customers within our markets,” says Steven. “We have a strong knowledge base in design, so when our customers have a

design on paper, we can help them make it in real time.

We produce cabin roofs by twin-sheet thermoforming for example; this is typical d insulating parts in industrial vehicles Engine room, soun and construction equipment, where if you have a metal roof there is no design freedom. However, we can make a plastic roof that is durable and has good design freedom and does not need to be lacquered, has very good gloss properties, so it’s a very different mindset.�

The company’s success is further powered by its use of varied production methods and technologies. Its foam processing applications date back to its inception and today are commonly

Twinsheet thermo

formed cabin roof

s

employed within its thermal and sound insulation market, where it is also able to offer consultancy services to offer customers the very best in performance. Later, during the 1950s, Vitalo diversified into processing with plastic and began on the path that would see it take its market leading position today. Its thin-gauge applications allow it to work with material at a maximum thickness of 1.5mm in a wide variety of materials and

techniques, including thin-gauge thermoforming and high-pressure thermoforming of complex components assemblies. Typically, products produced via thin-gauge thermoforming are trays, blister or clamshells and often more cost-effective than standard injection molded parts. Other key advantages of this style of fabrication are the introduction of multilayer solutions and the ability to create thicknesses less than 0.5mm, which is the minimum for injection molding.

Heavy-gauge forming employs the same basic process as continuous thin-gauge sheet forming; this typically involves draping a heated plastic sheet over a chosen mold. Often, heavy-gauge applications rely solely on vacuum in the form process, however some

Construction & Civil Engineering 65

PROFILE: Vitalo Global Thermoforming rior parts

Cabin inte

Formed engi

ne hoods, be

fore milling

Cabin of Doosan Moxy dumptruck

employ two halves of mating form tooling and apply air pressure as an aid to form. In comparison to thin-gauge forming, heavy-gauge parts are often hand-worked after forming for trimming to the final intended shape or additional drilling, cutting or finishing. Heavygauge protects tend to meet the requirements of the ‘permanent’ sector of the market, while thingauge products are more often used as disposable or recyclable items, such as packaging for food or other products. Production quantities of heavy-gauge thermoforming are averaged between 250 and 3000 units annually, while the process tends entail lower tooling costs and faster product development than competing plastic technologies.

As the company moves into 2014 it is readying itself for the challenges of a relatively fluid market and the demand for larger products, as Steven concludes: “The challenge at the moment is that everything is getting bigger and bigger, however we are looking into investing into larger machines to follow the market. The machines we use are

66 Construction & Civil Engineering

, CAT

Engine hood

custom made. For thermoforming, if a company is designing a machine with a very large side panel, for example and it is too large for our machines we offer solutions to split it into several parts. However, if the design absolutely needs such a large part then we would look to invest into a new machine to produce the panel. Of course we would have to look at volumes before we invest in a new machine, to ensure it is sustainable.

“We have four main markets at

the moment, which are electronics, industrial applications, railway and medical. As we have seen in 2008, with the global economic crisis, the industrial market can decrease a lot, as much as 60-70 per cent. We offer a diverse range of products so have remained strong, but have decided to increase our market share in railway and medical equipment.” m

Vitalo Global Thermoforming www.vitalo.net Services: Thermoform fabrication

PROFILE: HAULOTTE GROUP

With more than 120 years experience in material handling equipment, Haulotte Group has become the European leader in its field

F

Platform for growth

ocused on continuous improvement in the lifting equipment creation field, the group provides customers with a broad range of over 60 models to meet all unique requirements. “Haulotte Group began as a crane company at the start of the last century and remained focused on cranes until the 1960s when it became more of a service provider. Throughout the 2000s, until the economic crisis in 2007, we extended our operations worldwide and now have 20 facilities all over the world as well as major subsidiaries,” begins Stephane Hubert, European sales and marketing director at Haulotte Group.

He continues: “In 2007 we achieved a turnover of 800 million euros, however once the crisis hit we had a big downturn with 2010 being our worst year for the access platform business. Since that difficult

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PROFILE: HAULOTTE GROUP

time we are now back on trend, with a turnover of 355.7 M€ for 2012, we are in the top three worldwide giants of the active platform business and have between 20-60 people working on site at each of our locations where we offer services such as repairs, training and after care. Our work is divided across four major regions, North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, a structure that illustrates our vision for ‘customer proximity.’”

With a distribution network of 20 subsidiaries and offices based in strategic markets around the globe, the ISO 9001 certified Haulotte Group has coverage of more than 100 countries and the facilities to provide the best possible product solutions to its partners and customers. “We have six different factories, three of which are in France, one in Romania, one

in China and one in the US; because we work in a commodity driven market, we believe innovation should be focused directly on the benefits of the end users and

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On the strength of a global team of more than 8000 dedicated employees, we operate advanced R&D centers, as well as manufacturing plants in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and Asia. We distribute our products in the replacement market through our worldwide distribution network. As a strategic supplier to leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), we also deliver our products directly to their assembly lines.

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68 Construction & Civil Engineering

what you can provide to them, as well as on the optimisation of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for our key customers the Rental companies,” says Stephane.

Furthermore, by working closely with rental firms, Haulotte Group is provided with accurate information from professionals that use its products; thus enabling continued improvements that can further meet the requirements of its diverse customer base.

Returning customers for the group include military forces located around the world who require a broad range of high quality equipment, such as earthmoving equipment, telescopic handler and aerial work platforms (articulated and telescopic booms, scissors, vertical masts). To meet specific military requirements, Haulotte Group has an R&D department

where it can develop tailor-made solutions. Designing its products to be user safe, cost-effective, easy to maintain and ready for future operations, the group is committed to offering customers total reliability and efficiency.

The group’s most recent innovation, the telescopic boom HT67 RTJ (HT23 RTJ: name for ROW) offers the best performance in its class and breaks records at all levels. With a platform working height of 73ft5in (20.5 metres), a horizontal outreach of 60ft (18.3 metres) (an increase of approximately three foot compared to industry standards), optional dual load capacity that offers a maximum lifting capacity of 450 kilogrammes and an incomparable lifting speed of just 56 seconds to reach full height, the HT67 RTJ (HT23 RTJ) telescopic boom is

an incredible achievement that is already generating positive attention. “The new telescopic booms HT61 & HT67 RTJ (HT21 & HT 23 RTJ) are remarkable products that are

probably one of the best rated by our customers. A heavy-duty machine with an automatic differential lock, it has a high rough terrain capability, a high level of precision and control and high

Construction & Civil Engineering 69

PROFILE: HAULOTTE GROUP

visibility. They are the first machines to have the new Haulotte modular basket, which makes it possible to replace the damaged component instead of the whole basket. The maximum height is the best ever and it is a cost effective option on the market as well; it an outstanding machine that has achieved worldwide interest with strong success from users,” enthuses Stephane.

Due to be launched at the ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show in Las Vegas in March, the HT67 RTJ (HT23 RTJ) will be one of a range of products to be exhibited by the technically innovative group.

“We see strong potential in the US market as the country grows

70 Construction & Civil Engineering

and begins to recover from the economic crisis; with the ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show coming up we anticipate a lot of interest from companies participating. Throughout 2014 we aim to boost our network and brand awareness in the US as it is such a big country and a challenging territory. Even though we acquired Bil-Jax Inc, the largest scaffold manufacturer in the US, in 2008, this area is still a market to conquer for us,” says Stephane.

Despite a challenging market in the US, the future looks positive for Haulotte Group as it continues developing its foothold in Latin America and Europe, as Stephane concludes: “We want to ensure we

are party of Europe’s economic recovery by focusing on the training and capabilities of our staff in this area; furthermore, we aim to maintain our strong position in Russia, Brazil and Argentina while also paying attention to Asia over the coming years. Due to regulations and lack of investment on assisted platforms yet in this area there is huge potential in this still emerging market; we want to be part of this over the coming years.” m

Haulotte Group www.en.haulotte.com Services: Material lifting equipment specialist

PROFILE: BALCO

Since the company was founded in 1987, Balco AB has pursued its passion for delivering industry-leading balconies and today provides as many as 5000 units each year

Balconies

B

alco began operation in Sweden, where it is currently headquartered in the city of Växjö. The company works to deliver turnkey solutions within a niche market and today delivers balconies through out its native Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The growth of Balco has been impressive, with the turnover of the company doubling every third year during the first 15 years of its operation and accelerating to an average increase of ten per cent over the following ten years. Today, despite challenging market conditions the company’s performance remains strong allowing it to claim an annual turnover of £60 million.

As Balco has grown, it has evolved to meet the varied demands of its clients. This ability to anticipate the needs of its customer base

Construction & Civil Engineering 71

PROFILE: BALCO

and respond to potential market opportunities has proven invaluable in allowing the company to expand, as chief operating officer Anders Ingemarsson explains: “When Balco was founded, open balconies were originally the target market. However, the Scandinavian climate with its short summers led to increased focus on glazed balconies as a way to prolong the warm season. In addition to the insulating effect that they provide, a glazed balcony also has noise reducing properties and of course has an energy saving effect on the building.”

Eventually, the company’s push to incorporate new services sparked the logical move to pay closer attention to the exterior of the client’s structure itself as Anders further details: “Over time we have also moved towards looking at the total façade of the building so that we are able to give customers a total lift of the structure’s exterior.”

Today, Balco continues to provide industry-leading balconies as well as the renovation and refurbishment of façades. It provides option in glazed, open and access balconies that are serviced and installed with a host of innovative patents that the company has created through dedicated research and development activities.

These include Balco Flexible, its range of tolerant fixings that allows compensation for deviations in the host building; Balco Cleanline, which is designed to allow the collection and flow of water in the window track and down through the aluminum frame, keeping the façade clean; and the Balco Vision, which provides a folding glass system without a frame, combined with glass corners. This provides the impression of a single expanse of glass and an excellent view.

For clients looking for the pleasure of an open balcony and the benefits of a glazed solution during the cooler seasons, Balco has developed Balco Twin and Reversible technologies. Balco Twin allows

72 Construction & Civil Engineering

customers to open up the whole balcony or to fold in an individual pane at any point along the track, with very little effort. The Balco Reversible also allows for both glazed and open environments

with a sliding pane with doubleenergy glass that can be turned 180 degrees.

Balco also delivers products that that allow for a degree of environmental control as well

as energy saving elements.

Its Balco Vettech technology enhances the balconies built-in ventilation to reduce condensation and uncomfortable heat gain in addition to protecting the building’s existing ventilation system. A recent development that is patent pending is the company’s Balco Climate technology. Balco Climate is a glazing solution with two separate sheets of glass in the parapet – clear glass on the outside and heat absorbing glass on the inside. Solar-powered fans sit between the glass at the bottom. The column of air between the glass is heated by the sun and when the fans start, the warm air is forced up inside the parapet. This offers an excellent warming solution to combat cold snaps during the winter months.

These innovative solutions have made Balco a market- and made it popular with customers including its largest segment in co-operative, tenant-owners’ building societies.

Within this sector the company is largely involved in the replacement or refurbishment of existing

Construction & Civil Engineering 73

PROFILE: BALCO

Kronsminde:

Before

Kronsminde: After

g

de: Durin

Kronsmin

balconies and the installation of new balconies on apartments that previously did not have them. It also works with construction companies in the construction of new builds and refurbishments.

During a project in northern Norway, Balco was able to successfully address problems with the façade of two 12-storey apartment buildings. Among other problems, the bricklayer of the façade was

74 Construction & Civil Engineering

in very bad condition and tenants were unhappy with the condition of their current balconies. Balco was able to fully refurbish the façade as well as to install new and larger balconies. Commenting on this and other projects Anders says: “Balco is very strong when it comes to engineering. As all buildings are different and unique, the design solution has to be customised for each project and more-or-less for each individual balcony. As a project could span for as many as 20 to almost 1000 balconies the company needs to be able to handle both smaller and larger projects effectivly. That is one of the real strengths of Balco.”

Balco can rely on vast deposits of experience and innovation as it moves into 2014. All of its products are designed and manufactured in-house and it relies on trusted subcontractors to install its unique designs. With these strengths the

company is confident of future growth during the coming years as Anders concludes: “During 2014 we aim to increase our footprint in the UK as it appears to be the company’s next big market. We will also establish Balco in its newest market in the Netherlands while sustaining business in Sweden, Norway and Germany. We will look to further potential markets to help the company reach a target turnover of £100 million within five years.” m

Balco AB www.balco.se Services: Specialist provider of balconies and façades

profile: Travis Perkins

Setting

the foundations With a history of supplying building materials to the trade for more than two centuries, the Travis Perkins Group is now one of the largest suppliers to the UK’s building and construction industry

W

ith the largest building merchant and home improvement network in the UK, the company has more than 1900 trading locations nationwide, providing in excess of 250,000 products to trade professionals and serious DIYers. The product range is extensive, and includes building materials, landscaping, plumbing and heating, kitchens and bathrooms, timber and sheet materials, dry lining and insulation, painting and decorating, doors and joinery and hand and power tools.

Established from a merger in 1988 between Travis & Arnold and Sandell Perkins, the organisation boasts some of the industry’s

leading brands, including Travis Perkins, Keyline, City Plumbing Supplies, Wickes, Toolstation, BSS, CCF, Benchmarx and PTS. The company has enjoyed consistent growth despite market fluctuations, which is due to its continued investment in customer proposition and product innovation.

Furthermore, the Group boasts an industry leading strategic network of local branches, stock availability and clear, competitive trade prices; customers can open an account and benefit from prices that offer the best deals on the products they buy the most. Furthermore, reliable, knowledgeable, friendly staff are on hand at all branches and stores, ready to offer the best service and expert advice for the largest and smallest of jobs.

Construction & Civil Engineering 75

profile: Travis Perkins

Determined to lead the way in delivering building materials to those who need them, the Travis Perkins Group has achieved this through an awareness of market trends, high quality employees and embracing the latest technology.

This strategy has proven highly successful, and the Group is looking forward to continued success as the recession starts to weaken and the housing market gets back on track in 2014, as group commercial director, Travis Perkins plc, Ian Preedy, explains: “The main reason for this growth is new-build residential house

76 Construction & Civil Engineering

building. A strong set of numbers for new house builds in Britain was released this year, showing a 20 per cent increase in this sector.”

He continues: “We are starting to see an optimism in consumer markets as we look ahead to next year, as we know there’s usually a nine-month time lag between housing transactions and the consequent up spend from consumers as they start to embark on home improvements. The strength of housing transactions is an important indicator for us, and so we are encouraged by this increase in consumer demand.”

A recent surge in mortgage approvals, housing transactions and positive results from house builders has helped the UK’s housing market recover from its previous slump. Part of the reason for this positive kick-start is the government’s ‘help to buy’ scheme, which enables house buyers to secure financial help if they live in England and can’t afford to buy a home. It is open to both first-time buyers and home movers on newbuilds worth up to £600,000. “The government’s help-to-buy-scheme has helped in two ways. First, by providing access to funding for homeowners who wouldn’t have had access to it before and second, by driving confidence in the market. As a Group, we are fully prepared for this growth in demand as we have a number of different operating businesses working together to support other brands in the Group, so our businesses stay strong and healthy,” comments Ian. Following a boost in orders, the company is anticipating a steady increase in demand for its wide range of products over the next

Defender - Light Cannon

three to four years. “The increase in demand we see closely aligns to the stages a house goes through as it’s built. For example, below ground drainage, bricks and blocks are the first products that go into

building a house and these are the first markets to have recovered.

For the first time in ten years, we’re seeing the upsurge in demand in this area, and so we’re working hard with those on the supply side to ensure that the confidence we’re all seeing sustains,” says Ian. A very clear indicator that the economy is developing positively is the major contract awarded to Travis Perkins by Crest Nicholson in September 2013, a contract that sees Travis Perkins as the sole

supplier of building materials as Crest Nicholson begins construction of over 500 homes during 2014.

With sophisticated forecasting, the Travis Perkins Group has been discussing the market with its suppliers to ensure all levels of service and products are available in line with the expected upsurge.

On top of that, the company aims continually to expand its branch network, with a particular focus on its distribution capability. “We are recruiting at the moment, a drive which supports our own wellestablished management training scheme. Next year, we plan on increasing investment in both our management and graduate training schemes to help us better face the

Construction & Civil Engineering 77

profile: Travis Perkins

either via mobile technology or via the internet, and is aiming to use its direct sourcing capability to invest more heavily in these areas to differentiate itself in the market.

Meanwhile, the company also aims to significantly invest in developing its own brand products, like its work wear ‘Scruffs’, commercial lighting brand ‘Defender’ and fixings brand ‘Bullet’, all of which have seen strong growth. With so much opportunity in the housing and repairs and maintenance markets coming up, the future for Travis Perkins plc looks positive as it continues to invest in its company to improve services and products for existing and future customers.m constantly evolving challenges in our sector,” says Ian. Looking ahead, the Travis Perkins Group also sees emerging trends in how products are being bought,

Travis Perkins www.travisperkins.co.uk Services: Builders merchants

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78 Construction & Civil Engineering

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Ideal Heating For more than 100 years Ideal Heating has been providing the UK with solutions heat its homes.

From taking boilers from basements into kitchens in the 1920’s, right through to introducing high efficiency technologies and developing award winning boiler ranges, Ideal manufactures products which are reliable, energy efficient and easy to use; combining the latest technology with common sense engineering.

Our flagship Logic range of boilers continues a tradition of high quality technology for modern day living. Recently awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, the Logic range is built with state-of-the-art technology in a practical compact unit.

The HE range provides a reliable, efficient solution for new or replacement installations. The Logic range is available in variety of outputs and comes complete with various warranties to suit all requirements and is supported by a national service team 364 days a year.

profile: Domoferm

Doortodoor

service

When it comes to doors, Domoferm’s expertise and design led product range is second to none

T

he smiling sun is the trademark of Domoferm International, and the organisation aims for its service to echo its sentiments of sympathy, strength, reliability and energy. Since it was founded in 1960 Domoferm has grown to be one of the most successful mediumsized businesses in Europe. Today Domoferm is the leading European manufacturer of frames and one of the leading European providers of steel doors and fire doors.

Strengthened by the professionalism of an entire group of companies, Domoferm International is a holding company that owns four manufacturing companies BOS (Emsdetten, Germany), BBE (Brilon, Germany), HSE (Humpolec, Czech Republic) and Domoferm (Gänserndorf, Austria) as well as five distribution companies in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and the Netherlands. The entire group employs more than 1000 people with over 300 people working at the headquarters in Gänserndorf, Austria.

The frames and doors produced

by Domoferm provide strong benefits, starting with perfect design and going all the through the process to the variety of finishes that are available. With many equipment options on offer, they are ideally suited to any room and their steel construction offers the additional benefit of a long lifecycle.

Domoferm offers highly aesthetically appealing door sets, in accordance with the requirements of modern architecture: Clear lines, high-quality materials and surfaces combined with perfect function, and for safety, there are the options of fire and sound proofing, heat protection and burglar resistance.

The door elements are tested for fire protection to ÖNORM, DIN and EN standards, but in terms of design they appear like other doors, and can be equipped with vision panels, attractive lever handles, individual colours or different surface materials.

The company also offers a comprehensive range of steel doorframes because it believes the frame completes the role of a door and gives it the necessary structure to be a fully functional product.

Domoferm frames are made to the highest quality standards, with a diversity of variations and options available, including modern, elegant finishes and easy care varieties – they create the frame standard of today.

Another product range available from Domoferm is sliding doors, and these are as varied as the projects in which they are utilised. They can be created as a sliding door, telescopic sliding door or lifting door, and Domoferm is able to assist clients to find the optimal solution to their requirements.

A very versatile choice, Domoferm sliding doors can be used to separate sections associated with fire requirements, as well as create multifunctional rooms.

All of the Domoferm sliding doors are tested according to ÖNORM and EN and in terms of design, they as adaptable as its door ranges.

Also complementing its range of doors and frames, Domoferm can offer a range of glazing options, including those with fire, sound and radiation protection.

The wide range of products available from Domoferm are

Construction & Civil Engineering 79

profile: Domoferm

supported by its in-depth expertise, which has been acquired over a range of projects, such as the Thürnlhof in Vienna, The Albertina Museum in Vienna and the Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach.

The Thürnlhof project involved the construction of 209 apartments, and for this project, a partner was needed to supply steel frames as well as steel and fire protection doors – the contractor turned to Domoferm. There was a big emphasis on light, and this can be seen in Domoferm’s installation of numerous special frames with fanlights and side glazings, which not only provide light-flooded spaces, but allow, for example, that parents can observe their children playing in the play room from the laundry room through large glass surfaces.

In addition to the single and double leaf doors, special frames were used, and the thick rebated product group UNIVERSAL. This product has already been certified to the new European classification EI230.

Another very prestigious project that features Domoferm products is the Albertina, one of the most famous museums of Vienna. It houses one of the largest and most important graphic arts collections in the world, with exhibits ranging from the Gothic to contemporary art. The name ‘Albertina’ comes from its founder, Duke Albert of Saxony-Teschen.

Domoferm was challenged to integrate oversized doors with fire protection in the heritage listed building as inconspicuously as possible, without damaging the building integrity. The company utilised a number of Domoferm

80 Construction & Civil Engineering

products that were discretely integrated into the museum, including the BIG UT7xx/UT8xx - a product for oversized openings and therefore ideal for the renovation of historic/artistic buildings. It meets all the necessary equipment options in the commercial sector and meets the highest standards. The BIG is widely used in applications where high functionality is required to exist alongside outstanding design.

It is clear from these examples that architects, planners and builders are keen to work with

Domoferm products. As different as the individual planners, their aesthetic ideas and design assumptions, their methods of operation and construction projects may be, they are all united by one common theme - a belief in the high quality and performance of products from Domoferm. m

Domoferm www.domoferm.com Services: Door and door frame manufacturer

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