Demolition In UAE! pages: 38-40 - Pdworld.com

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Demolition When large and complex structures are demolished in Sweden often the name LODAB is on the excavators. Most of the projects are paper mills, steel plants, power stations, silos and large terminal buildings containing reinforced concrete and steel. For the past two years LODAB has also been operating in the United Arab Emirates. Text: Jan Hermansson • Foto: Mika Myntti LODAB, founded and owned by Lars-Olof Dahl, has during a bit more then a decennium become Sweden’s biggest demolition contractor and one of the 100 biggest in the world. The company has today operations both in Sweden and abroad. LODAB Demolition AB, with its captain Lars-Olof Dahl steering the company, continues to surprise and is strengthening the Swedish demolition company’s position as one of the world’s 100 biggest demolition contractors. “We have had some very good years, but of course the ongoing recession has also affected us. But when it struck the management sat down and discussed how we should react to the situation. We decided it was full speed ahead as we believed that accelerating through the crises would give us a better position when we eventually come out of it,” says LODAB owner and president Lars-Olof Dahl. Complex Missions LODAB Demolition AB was formed in 1996 and Lars- Olof Dahl, who had previously worked for several other demolition companies, invested in a used Brokk demolition robot and started to take on small jobs. Lars-Olof is skilled at finding unconventional demolition solutions, which he has been benefiting from over the years and led to a number of big and complex demolition contracts. Now LODAB Demolition AB has 45 employees and a turn over of EUR18,5M. From starting out as a traditional demolition contractor of household and industrial buildings the company has developed into a specialist contractor for the demolition of complex structures, often where extremely heavy equipment is needed. Most of the jobs are in various types of process industries like paper mills, steel plants and power stations, as well as different types of bridge demolition projects. All jobs are different and more a rule than an exception that special demolition methods and tailor made demolition attachments are used on its demolition projects. New office in Stockholm The home market for LODAB is still Sweden and the headquarters is in Örebro, about 200km west of the capital Stockholm. The company has also recently acquired a new office with a large workshop in Stockholm. This year has been difficult for many Swedish demolition contractors and a lot of projects have been delayed and many put on hold until the recession is over. LODAB has also lost projects and some have been postponed. But several large contracts have been won and Lars-Olof Dahl estimates that they will reach about the same turn over for 2009 as in 2008. “During the spring we won a number of really large demolition and recycling projects, which will keep us busy for quite a while. In the Stockholm area though, which has been our bread and butter, things are much quieter now. But we hope the situation will improve during next year,” says Lars-Olof. Despite the recession the company continues to expand and purchase new equipment. LODAB has also formed a new company LODAB Sanering that will focus on the clearance of hazardous materials like PCBs, asbestos, oil, heavy metals and environmental remediation. The company has taken on 10 employees 38 PDi • Is s u e 3 - 2009 • Au g - Se p t
in UAE Breaking, cutting and digging under water in Dubai. It was around 50° C in the desert city of Al Ain near OMan when a pre-stressed bridge was demolished. Mika Myntti, reponsible for LODABs operations in UAE, has decades of experience from working in arabic countries. Dental care in 50°C. bringing the group total to 55 people. Wide range of machinery LODAB’s machine and tool fleet is continuously renewed and the company currently has 16 demolition excavators from 7.5 to 140t with all the necessary hydraulic and mechanical tools and attachments weighing up to 23t. These include nine scrap shears, 10 pulverisers, 10 hydraulic breakers and about the same number of demolition and sorting grapples. In addition LODAB also has a number of Brokk machines, a big number of Bobcats, three large Liebherr cranes, mobile recycling crushers and screeners, a wind screener and a number of wheel loaders. For the clearance services they have suction containers and a vacuum suction device mounted on a truck. Two Komatsu PC228 excavators equipped with quick couplers have also been purchased recently from Oil Quick, together with a number of tools for scrap handling and a special screener for recycling light demolition material. LODAB is certified according to the Swedish quality system BF9K and is a member of the Swedish Demolition Association as well as the Swedish Construction Federation. The company has the necessary requirements to carry out the services they offer and the staff is regularly updated with new regulations. Big Missions in Sweden and Abroad Although its main market is Sweden LODAB has taken on jobs abroad and these included two projects in Dubai and Al Ain. Both projects were for the demolition of reinforced concrete and steel bridges for the consortium BESIX, comprising the Belgium based company Sixt and the Dubai company Belhasa. The project in Dubai was for the demolition of the Al Garhoud Bridge. It was a difficult job and the necessary special demolition expertise was not available in the region. “The special knowledge and equipment to demolish a bridge like the Al Garhoud wasn’t available among local demolition contractors. When I say special knowledge I mean theoretical and practical knowledge and the necessary machinery and tools to bring down the structure within a tight programme. In addition the job needed to be done with the highest safety precautions and with as little disturbance as possible on the environment around the site,” says Lars-Olof Dahl. There is a lot of competition on smaller and less complicated projects from contractors from India or Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Italy, UK and The Netherlands. “We can’t compete on the smaller and easier jobs as our salary levels are so much higher for our men. But we can compete on very qualified jobs where special machinery is needed and where efficiency is paramount. So it is cost effective to put our equipment on a ship all the way from Sweden,” says Lars-Olof. “We have a good position in the United Arab Emirates and are fast and pull down structures safely.” LODAB started demolition of Al Garhoud Bridge early in 2008 and project manager was Mika Myntti, who has several decades of experience from working Is s u e 3 - 2009 • Au g - Se p t • PDi 39
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