A-shaped pylon rising amidst the stormy winds of Norway
On the Kåfjord, near Alta in Norway, the construction group ALPINE is currently erecting the northernmost bridge pylon ever to be formed by Doka. The greatest challenge in the building of this 270 m long bridge is the harsh climatic conditions that prevail at this geographically exposed location: working winds of 80 km/h and storm winds of up to 170 km/h are not uncommon here. Nevertheless, a high-performing Doka formwork solution using SKE50 automatic climbers is keeping work moving ahead swiftly and safely.
High seas in the Norwegian Arctic
Tailor-made Doka formwork solutions are ensuring swift, safe progress during construction of the Tverlandsbrua bridge between Løding and Vikan in the Nordland region of northern Norway. Among the unusual challenges of this project are the high seas encountered out on the fjord, with waves up to 10 m high putting the technicians and the site team severely to the test.
Twin Towers Qatar: double impact on Doka climbing tasks
In recent years, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, has seen many spectacular new skyscrapers rise above its ‘West Bay’ business district. Currently under construction, the Twin Towers will add another showcase project to the already striking skyline of this city. Following completion, the two 185 m towers will house a luxury hotel and offices on 48 floors. Having supplied its Automatic climbing formwork SKE50, Climbing formwork MF240, Large-area formwork Top 50 and Load-bearing tower Staxo 40 systems, Doka is playing a key role as comprehensive solutions provider to ensure fast, safe construction progress on the Twin Towers.
A new bridge over the River Vltava
Work began on building the new Troja Bridge across the Vltava in Prague in 2010. The crossing has spans of 200.4 and 40.4 m. The new bridge is part of the Prague inner orbital route and links the districts of Holešovice and Troja. The innovative nature and low structure tolerances called for some custom solutions in terms of the formwork used. The challenge was to do with the fact that the construction has to fulfil extremely stringent criteria regarding fair-faced concrete and accuracy.
Small radius, big challenge
As part of the work on the new ‘Interchange 4 to 20’ motorway junction outside Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, Ramet LTD is building a new bridge over a valley. Doka has supplied this construction project with a customised all-in-one forming solution: Two Cantilever forming travellers (CFTs) have been fielded for constructing the two side-by-side bridge superstructures, while the high-capacity Load-bearing tower Staxo 100 system is being used on the piers. The greatest challenge for the Formwork Experts here is the inside deck slab: its radius of only 268 m is the smallest that Doka has ever formed with Cantilever forming travellers.
Doka Safety from A(ustria) to B(elgrade)
Work is moving ahead swiftly on the biggest bridge-building project in Serbia for more than 30 years. 929 m long and with 200 m tall bridge piers, the Sava Bridge is set to become a modern-day landmark of the Serbian capital.
Palazzo Lombardia: Best Tall Building 2012
The Palazzo Lombardia marks the first time that an Italian edifice has been awarded the title of ‘Best Tall Building’. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), an international non-profit organisation, publishes a list of the world’s best highrise structures every year.
Rebuilding at Ground Zero
Doka USA is supporting the rebuilding work at New York’s Ground Zero with some high-performing formwork solutions. After providing formwork for the two square waterfall-pools at the National September 11 Memorial and for Tower 2, Doka is currently supplying climbing formwork and floor-slab formwork for the 72-storey, 297 m tall Tower 4 of the World Trade Center. Once completed in late 2012, this will be the fourth-tallest skyscraper at the Ground Zero site.
Tough assignment on CMA Tower
Set to top out at 400 m, the 76-storey CMA Tower in Saudi Arabia will be the tallest building in the city of Riyadh, in whose King Abdullah Financial District it stands. The CMA Tower is being built by SBG, a firm with a huge fund of experience in highrise construction. The tower stands out for its gigantic nine-sided CIP concrete core, whose 40 m cross-section makes it big enough to be a skyscraper in its own right. An ingenious formwork solution from Doka is in use for the 100 casting sections. At present, SBG has an uncommonly tough challenge to deal with: incorporating a three-storey-high steel construction into the CIP concrete core.
Umdasch Group 2011: Significant growth dynamic
As a company which has operated successfully for decades on a worldwide scale, the Amstetten-based Umdasch Group has once again demonstrated a significant growth dynamic in 2011 within its companies Doka Division (concrete formwork technology) and Umdasch Shopfitting Division (shopfitting). By the end of 2010 a considerably improved economic environment was in evidence; during 2011 this resulted in revenues of € 968 million for the Umdasch Group, an increase of seven percent; there was an equally encouraging increase in the result of ordinary business activities to € 73 million (an increase of 22 percent!). This optimistic outlook for the future was also evident in the 41 percent increase in investment volume (a total of € 55 million). Worldwide the Umdasch Concern employed an average staff of approx. 7,100 in 2011 (an increase of 3.4 percent) – the current total is approx. 7,300. A stable and positive economic climate in most markets allows us to expect a continuation of this encouraging trend in 2012.
Landmark project won: Minerva Tower in India
Doka has won another landmark, the super-high-rise Lokhandwala Minerva building in Mumbai.
DM and Doka Host Formwork Safety Symposium
Construction professionals presented latest formwork safety methods
Doka iLOC St. Georgen paving the way to the future
In the ongoing worldwide expansion of the Doka Group, logistics has a key role to play. Doka formwork solutions are in day-to-day use all over the world, and need to be made available rapidly at sales and logistics locations in more than 70 countries. With its new international Logistics Centre – ‘iLOC’, for short – Doka has put its logistics on a brand-new long-term footing. After a build-time of only 7½ months, the 50,000 m² iLOC facility at St. Georgen-am-Ybbsfelde has now commenced full-scale operation. The iLOC is also a highly forward-looking development in terms of its energy efficiency and sustainability.
Josef Umdasch Research Prize for Forestry and Timber Science
The University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, this year invites entries for the eleventh international Josef Umdasch Research Prize, which is endowed with 30,000 euros in prize money. Instituted in memory of the founder of the Umdasch Group, this prize is one of Europe’s premier awards for research in the field of forestry and timber science, a fact which is underlined by the high quality of the research papers submitted over the years. The deadline for the submission of entries for the 2012 Josef Umdasch Research Prize is 31st July 2012.
Bridge-building in record time
A 26 km long 4-lane motorway, the M51, is being built to link Kliplev and Sønderborg in southern Jutland, around 15 km away from the border between Denmark and Germany.
Rapid construction progress amid tight space constraints
La Défense is a modernistic high-rise commercial district in Paris. With over three million square metres of floorspace, this is the biggest office location in Europe, accommodating more than 150,000 office staff. 1600 firms – among them some of the biggest corporations in both France and the world – are represented in La Défense. A new prestige project is the 166 m ‘Tour Carpe Diem’ tower being built for the insurance group Aviva. Designed to Green Building Standards, it is scheduled for completion in 2012. The ‘Doka automatic climbing formwork SKE50 plus’ system is keeping operations moving ahead very fast on this project, despite the cramped conditions on the site. Used here as a protection screen, the Doka ‘Automatic climbing formwork Xclimb 60’ system is ensuring high workplace safety on this build.
Self climbing system debuts in Las Vegas
The McCarran International Airport is the primary commercial airport serving Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada. In 2010, the airport recorded an estimated 39 million passengers passing through the terminal. With the growing need for expansion, the McCarran Airport Authority devised a plan for a new air traffic control tower to accommodate a terminal radar approach control (TRACON).
New Highrise Centre concentrates expertise
Doka's recently created Highrise Centre in Singapore brings together and focuses its automatic-climbing capabilities in the East Asia & Pacific Region. Thousands of miles away from the Group’s HQ in Austria, its building-construction clients can benefit from the concentrated expert knowledge and service offerings of one of the global formwork-technology sector’s leading players.
Keeping the Mississippi River Bridge on track
The Mississippi River Bridge project will create a new gateway between Illinois and Missouri to provide better connections to and through St. Louis. The project includes a landmark bridge structure, and the realignment and reconstruction of Interstate 70 and numerous local roads on both sides of the state line.
World’s tallest A-shaped pylon completed
In September 2012, Vladivostok will host a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC). The region’s infrastructure has to be uprated for an event of this magnitude, and one of the projects now being implemented is the building of a hotel complex on the Russkiy Island. A for-lane motorway bridge is also being erected to link the island to the mainland. With a suspension tower height of 320 metres (20 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower’s steel construction) and a free span of 1104 metres, this bridge breaks two world records at once. Construction company Mostovik is responsible for on-time completion of the mainland tower.
