ESS Selects Skanska as Civil Works Partner
ESS has selected Skanska as partner for the future civil works construction of the ESS research facility. The decision to begin work on the actual buildings and earthworks depends on an international agreement on financing ESS, as well as the necessary regulatory licenses all due later this spring.
Tuesday 18 February, European Spallation Source ESS AB (ESS) and Skanska will begin working together on the preparation of the civil works construction.The collaborative preparation work between ESS and Skanska is intended to enable an efficient construction start.
"The selection of Skanska as an ESS partner is an essential step forward in preparing ESS for the construction start.”says James H. Yeck, ESS CEO and Director-General. “This is a very well know firm in the construction business and our joint development of construction plans is the final step in our preparations for construction."
For the civil works, ESS has chosen to enter into a partnering collaboration, in order to provide flexibility and control during the complex construction project. This means that ESS and Skanska intends to collaborate in an integrated way.
“It is exciting and an honor to be a part of the planning of a unique research environment that will place our region on the world map.” says Magnus Persson, Regional Manager, Skanska. ”We have solid experience from other large and advanced construction projects, which will be valuable in the collaboration with ESS.”
The collaborative work agreed on now will cover detailed planning and preparations for the coming civil works construction of the ESS accelerator buildings. A project management team will be built up to lead and develop the work. The real construction work will be exercised only after the final regulatory licenses and permits are in place and the full funding for ESS construction by the member countries are agreed upon.
The selection of Skanska is the result of an extensive procurement process. After a pre-qualification of interested companies, 6 companies submitted offers. Skanska’s offer was chosen as the best overall value, taking into accountfees, understanding of the complexities of building a large research facility, as well as understanding of working in a partnering relationship.
For more information, please contact:
Marianne Ekdahl, Communications Officer Press & Politics, ESS. E-mail marianne.ekdahl@esss.se. Tel. 46 (0)46 888 30 66
ESS AND SKANSKA IN SHORT:
About Skanska Sweden
Skanska Sweden is one of Sweden’s largest construction companies, with operations in building and civil-engineering construction and residential- and project development. The business unit has approximately 11,000 employees and revenue in 2013 amounted to approximately SEK 33 billion. In Sweden, Skanska is also active in the development of commercial premises and infrastructure.
The European Spallation Source – the next generation facility for materials research and life science
The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a multi-disciplinary research laboratory based on the world’s most powerful neutron source. ESS can be likened to a large microscope, where neutrons are used instead of light to study materials – ranging from polymers and pharmaceuticals to membranes and molecules – to gain knowledge about their structure and function. ESS will be around 30 times brighter than existing facilities, opening up new possibilities for researchers in for example health, chemistry, fundamental physics, environment, climate, energy, transport sciences and cultural heritage.
ESS is an intergovernmental research infrastructure project, and it will be built in Lund in southern Scandinavia. Currently 17 European countries are Partners in the ESS project, and will take part in the construction, financing and operation of the ESS. The Partner Countries are: Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
The European Spallation Source ESS AB is a state-owned limited liability company, today owned by the host countries Sweden and Denmark. ESS AB is currently working on finalizing the ESS technical design, planning the future research at ESS, preparing for construction, and planning the future international ESS organisation. This is done in collaboration with a large number of Partner Laboratories, research institutes, and universities around the world. The ground-break is planned for 2014, the first neutrons will be produced in 2019 and the facility will be fully operational around 2025.
ESS is expected to support a user community of at least 5000 European researchers and will have great strategic importance for the development of the European Research Area. Near by there will be complementary laboratories, such as the synchrotron MAX IV in Lund and XFEL and PETRAIII in Hamburg.