CUSTOMIZED PREFABRICATION

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION: Prefabricated concrete construction is not what it used to be. Today it must be able to harmonise with other materials like wood, steel and glass. And it must be tailored as well.

Managing director Poul Kirkegaard, Expan A/S

Denmark’s largest manufacturer of prefabricated elements in concrete and lightweight concrete for residential buildings, Expan A/S, has supplied elements for inner walls, dividing walls and party walls for a building project managed by property developer Sjælsø Group on one of the eight islands of Sluseholmen. Over a 30 week period, Expan supplied around 24,000 square metres of elements for what has become one of the most fashionable residential buildings in Copenhagen, located right on the waterfront.

Complexity

“Birkholm on Sluseholmen is one of the largest building projects we have supplied to so far,” says managing director Poul Kirkegaard, Expan A/S. “Sluseholmen is a good demonstration of how modern concrete building has developed. The specifications of the elements are becoming increasingly demanding, both regarding the complexity of the combination of lightweight and ordinary concrete in the elements, and also how the elements harmonise with other materials like wood, steel and glass. The architects’ design requirements were also a challenge. There are practically no two apartments alike. It is a highly individual building where all doors and windows are placed differently.” The fact that almost all of the concrete elements were different was no problem for Expan, being a made-to-order company with six concrete factories in Denmark and one in Germany.

Exploiting industrialisation

“Our particular collaborative strength with manufacturers of new buildings is the extensive use of customized solutions in the architectural expression. But even customized solutions are based on the exploitation of industrialisation, and the use of a number of standards for placing doors, windows, electricity, HWS and ventilation. Put simply, we optimise all the building areas where we have influence,” says Kirkegaard.

Poul Kirkegaard ascribes the increased use of prefabricated concrete elements in the Danish building industry to the Danish climate, with its relatively cold, rain-lashed and snowbound winters, and the relatively high wages of Danish building workers. Using elements allows fast installation on the building site and closing of the shell, after which work can continue both outdoors and indoors. And the industrialised fabrication of the elements means much higher quality and accuracy.

“The Sluseholmen project also shows that using industrialised concrete doesn’t have to result in boring rectangular building blocks,” says Poul Kirkegaard. “The diversity of the facade expression makes it one of the most fascinating residential buildings of recent times in Denmark.”

In the last four years Expan A/S has generated a revenue growth of DKK 250 million, making it necessary to expand the headquarters in Vejle, Jutland. The company used its own elements for the construction, naturally.

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