We work like the wind - 05/15/2008

We know how

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In Esbjerg harbour, where the water level fluctuates 1½ metres every six hours, it's normal procedure to adjust the work plan according to the tide. For what lies under water, even at low tide, we naturally use divers. For a lot of the other things, we use a special 3-level platform, which the port workers use for walking up and down, as low tide turns into high tide and vice versa. For example, concrete casting is carried out so that we start between high tide and low tide and prepare downwards at the same pace as the water falls. And when the water starts to rise, we go up a couple of floors and continue the preparation at the top. It usually works well - except when the west wind whips up into a fury.

Start again
In 2006-7, when we constructed Atlantic Quay in Esbjerg harbour – a quay 365 metres in length, with a depth of 10.5 metres, a storm destroyed a newly cast 80 cm high concrete hammer. The project leader simply shrugged his shoulders and said, OK so we'll just start again.

Precision work in a stiff breeze
We are currently extending the neighbouring Australia Quay by 400 metres. The task involves pile-driving 550 sheet piles, each one 1.4 metres wide, 21.5 metres long and weighing 5.3 tons. Each sheet pile is lifted up then locked into place with the previous sheet pile. It requires a great deal of accuracy and is a demanding task for the crane driver, especially when the wind picks up, which it frequently does in this area. But happily our crane driver has 28 years' experience.

Old industrial harbours become recreational areas
But we are constructing a lot of other things besides new quays in the old industrial harbours. These days we are building offices and residential blocks as never before, with beautiful granite stonework and tropical woods in high demand. In Odense harbour we are busy building a marina and promenade in connection with the construction of Promenadebyen [Promenade town], and at South Harbour in Copenhagen we are putting the finishing touches to the Frederikskaj residential complex, where a new canal and a promenade are part of the project.

Luxury marina at Vejrø
Divisional head Gunnar Haudrup, who has built harbours for the last 38 years, explains that when you extend a marina on a little island like Vejrø, it is not only the weather that poses a challenge, but also the logistics. Vejrø, with a land area of just 150 hectares and a population of 2, has no ferry service so everything one needs has to be shipped over: machinery, materials, food, water and accommodation. The old harbour needed to be completely rebuilt and the jetty and stonework renovated, and there was also room in the budget for a new landing stage in solid azobé wood, which has good looks and strength in equal measure - and is far from cheap.

An eye for beauty and quality
Marinas, like the many new harbour promenades, put high demands on both the quality of the wood and those who work with it. It requires something special to build with an exclusive tropical wood like azobé, which is so heavy that it sinks if you let go of it, is so hard that you cannot hammer a nail into it, and is so tough that it needs no maintenance for decades. Besides carpentry skills, working with wood requires two things: and eye for beauty and eye for quality. Our harbour builders have both. Often it is the hidden woodwork – including under the water – which determines that the planks on the landing stage lie straight. Year in, year out. In all weathers.

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