´09
Spring 2009
A supplement to COWI’s annual report
www.cowi.com
Taking
consultancy to
new places
A guided tour of cowi’s regions and
international specialist services
4 Crystal ball
The economic crisis has not made it easier to foresee the future,
but cowi’s President and CEO has a prediction: 2009 will bring
both hard work and new opportunities.
Growing high
6 2008 in numbers
Gain a quick overview of cowi's key figures and financial ratios
for 2008.
Artificial islands and
high-rises symbolise
the wealth of the
Gulf region
10 Climate ambitions
A consultancy firm involved in over 6,000 projects worldwide
can do a lot of good for the climate.
A network of regions
13 Local know-how
Lars-Peter Søbye
Globalisation has created opportunities for consultants that set
up operations close to their customers.
COWI's President and CEO
[email protected]
20
14 The nimble giant
´09
cowi’s annual report
goes online
Spring 2009
A supplement to COWI’s annual report
www.cowi.com
Taking
consultancy to
new places
A guided tour of cowi’s regions and
international specialist services
Editorial staff:
John Jørgensen, (editor-in-chief),
[email protected]
Henrik Larsen, [email protected]
Christina Tækker, [email protected]
Kathrine Schmeichel, [email protected]
Uzi Frank, [email protected]
Janne Toft Jensen, [email protected]
Design and layout:
Josina W. Bergsøe, [email protected]
Hanne Bjørn Nielsen, [email protected]
Marianne Rom, [email protected]
Mette Schou, [email protected]
Copy editing:
Anja Fabech Jensen, [email protected]
Translation services:
in other words
Editorial input closed
on 5 March 2009
Reproduction is permitted with
appropriate source references
Print run: 14,000
Production: Schultz Grafisk
ISSN 1600-6313
Published by COWI A/S
Parallelvej 2
DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby
Tel +45 45 97 22 11 Fax +45 45 97 22 12
www.cowi.com
COWI is a leading Northern European
consulting group. We provide state-ofthe-art services within the fields of engineering, environmental science and economics with due consideration for the environment and society. COWI is a leader
within its fields because COWI's 4,800
employees are leaders within theirs.
Busy t
Photo: Enok Holsegård
im
Mike Ajemian, engineer
diver with the cowi
company Ocean and Coastal
Consultants, conducts an
underwater inspection in
the Upper New York Bay.
Climate and
infrastructure
investments in
Denmark are
expected to fill
the order
books in 2009
es
Underground
Tunnels are easier
on both the environment and the
eye when traffic
problems need to
be solved
38
cowi’s Annual Report 2008 will be published solely
in an online version that can be downloaded as of 23
April from our website, www.cowi.com. The annual
report contains key figures,
the management's review, the
financial review and accounts
as well as the intellectual
capital report. And for the first
time, cowi will present a green
account of its impact on the
environment.
With Profile 09, cowi puts aside the facts and figures
of our annual report and tries to give readers an
introduction to the people and the places that
make cowi projects.
On the following pages, we present an overview of
our International Specialist Leader services, and we
tour our network of five regional companies – the
One Company Network. Welcome to Profile 09.
cowi Denmark accelerates business within climate consultancy
and public infrastructure projects.
17 Into Africa
International donors have found new ways to help local African
communities.
18 The Big Bang
Massive EU investments will further vitalise Central and Eastern
Europe in the years to come.
20 Ever skyward
High-rise projects appear to spring out of the Gulf region’s
desert landscape like wildflowers.
24 Fireproof
Norway's historic heritage is protected from fire by invisible
high-tech systems.
International specialist leader services
26 Large-scale niches
Specialised international projects such as bridges and airports
make the cowi brand unique.
28 Water world
Marine and coastal consultancy is a growing business everywhere. But right now the Gulf region is where the action is.
30 In deep water
A team of engineer divers gives a head start in the tough competition along America’s eastern seaboard.
31 Seen from above
3D-city models based on aerial photos are excellent tools for
decision-making and communication.
14
Lars-Peter Søbye, President, CEO
34 Booming bridges
When it comes to building bridges, the future not only looks
bright – it also looks big.
38 Tunnel visions
New techniques enable engineers to push the envelope for
what is possible in tunnel design.
41 Taking off
Building airports is such a complex business that only the best
and biggest can hang on at the top.
The CEO
takes stock
The year 2008 will be remembered as the time when over the
course of a few months, uncertainty on the global financial
markets developed into a fullblown economic crisis. We still
do not know the depth of this
crisis.
In cowi, we acknowledge that the
crisis will inevitably bring challenges
and hard work, but we also believe it
will bring great opportunities.
In 2008, the relevance of our decision
pany Network with
to transform cowi into a One Com
five international regions became apparent.
Photos: Morten Larsen
Looking back on the first three
quarters of 2008, we enjoyed a very
strong position in the consultancy
sector, but competition increased
dramatically in the fourth quarter. So
although we emerged from 2008
with our order books in historically
good shape, the economic crisis
makes it difficult to draw an accurate picture of what lies ahead.
In 2009, we expect increased
competition, and the number of
projects to come under pressure. On
the other hand, many governments
specify infrastructure and sustainability in their stimulus packages, and
protecting the climate and adapting
to climate change are both at the
top of the international agenda.
Given that all these areas feature
strongly amongst cowi’s core competencies, we are in a position to
we have amongst our regions –
a great strength in times of crisis –
and enables us to deliver our core
competencies wherever we are
working. Our customers experience
cowi as always providing the strongest team, combining local presence
and international strength, and
there is no doubt that the regionalisation strategy is the main reason
for our success in landing a number
of prestigious, international contracts.
face the future with moderate optimism in spite of the economic crisis.
Focus on profitability and people
cowi emerged from 2008 with an
operating profit of EUR 22.4 million,
which is in line with the budgeted
figures. This result was based on the
highest turnover we have ever recorded, and indeed we achieved the
strongest organic growth our business has seen for many years.
In spite of these positive results,
our key figures have been under
pressure, due in part to cowi’s dramatic growth in 2008. Turnover rose
by over 15 per cent and employee
headcount by 19 per cent. And this
growth carries a price.
We have made significant investment in new business systems, in
branding, in integrating new employees and not least in developing
management and employees. We
believe that such investment in people and talent will boost our capacity
to react quickly and effectively to
changes in the market.
With our 2009 budget we are setting the stage for slower growth in
turnover, while at the same time
making efforts to boost earnings.
Market reports from our five regions
and their expectations suggest that
this target is both realistic and
reachable.
Successful regionalisation
In 2008, the relevance of our decision to transform cowi into a One
Company Network with five international regions became apparent. Our
business model, which promotes
interaction between our local presence and our International Specialist
Leader (ISL) services, creates a
strong advantage.
Our internal structure facilitates
optimal exploitation of the resources
New economic conditions,
new opportunities
Our acquisitions in 2008 included
the Swedish company PICON and
the UK company Flint & Neill which
are in the process of being fully integrated in our organisation in line
with the other 14 companies we
have acquired over the last two
years. If we look around the rest of
the consultancy sector, there are
several potential acquisitions which
are attractive. We will keep them in
our sights, although our aim this
year will be focused on increasing
profitability.
In cowi, we view 2009 as a year
of opportunity, during which we will
meet the crisis with the ambition
that by building on our business
strategy and sound financial position, we will emerge even stronger
than we are today.
opportunities
Hard work and new
Lars-Peter Søbye, President and CEO
in a time of crisis
Profile 09 • 5
Key figures and financial ratios
for the cowi Group
2004
2005*
2006
2007
2008
2008
Development in net
turnover, operating margin
and EBITDA margin
Key figures
2,500
2,594.3 2,676.5 2,808.9 3,031.4 3,498.0 469.5
35.1
156.1 194.4 225.4 275.8 261.8 Operating profit on ordinary activities
91.3 117.3 161.8 138.0 165.0 22.1
Operating profit (EBIT)
90.8 120.0 160.2 180.8 167.4 22.5
1,500
5.9 19.6 16.6 11.5 9.0 1.2
96.7 139.7 176.8 192.3 176.4 23.7
Net turnover
Profit for the year
62.4 117.0 123.9 155.3 128.3 17.2
Operating margin
COWI's share of profit for the year
60.6 115.0 120.4 154.8 127.6 17.1
EBITDA margin
228.9 229.9 216.0 246.1 258.0 34.6
Other fixed assets
144.2 154.4 191.5 276.7 298.7 40.1
Current assets
1,189.8 1,398.9 1,537.5 1,797.4 1,830.8 245.7
Total assets
1,562.9 1,783.2 1,945.1 2,320.2 2,387.4 320.4
Share capital
34.8 34.8 34.8 34.8 34.8 4.7
Equity
446.1 455.3 587.2 716.4 769.9 103.3
Provisions
245.4 367.4 350.3 357.8 367.5 49.3
Long-term debt
14.4 11.0 8.1 28.1 29.2 3.9
Short-term debt
846.1 940.6 988.3 1,215.1 1,218.2 163.5
Cash flow from operating activities
167.1 208.8 213.9 168.9 171.3 23.0
Investment in tangible fixed assets, net
(25.5)
(40.7)
(43.5)
(78.7)
(39.9)
(5.4)
Other investments, net
(12.2)
(30.8)
(21.0)
(103.4)
(125.5)
(16.8)
Cash flow from investing activities, net
(37.7)
(71.5)
(64.5)
(182.0)
(165.4)
(22.2)
Free cash flow
129.4 137.3 149.4 (13.2)
5.9 0.8
Cash flow from financing activities
(58.8)
(35.6)
(15.2)
0.5 (0.5)
(0.1)
70.7 101.7 134.2 (12.6)
5.4 0.7
Total cash flow
4
1,000
2
500
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Development in equity
and equity ratio
DKKm
%
900
40
39
800
38
37
700
36
35
600
34
33
500
32
400
EBITDA margin
6.0%
7.3%
8.0%
9.1%
7.5%
Operating margin (EBIT margin)
3.5%
4.5%
5.7%
6.0%
4.8%
Return on invested capital
10.5%
12.7%
16.9%
15.7%
13.3%
Equity ratio
28.5%
25.5%
30.2%
30.9%
32.2%
Return on equity
14.5%
25.5%
23.1%
23.8%
17.2%
3,364
3,308
3,442
3,820
4,475
*Restated to changed accounting policies
0
Financial year
Financial ratios
Average number of employees
6
2,000
Profit before tax
Group goodwill
10
8
DKK/EUR rate at 31 December 2008 745.06
Net financials
12
4,000
3,000
Amounts in DKKm
Operating profit before amortisation,
depreciation and impairment losses (EBITDA)
%
3,500
DKKmDKKmDKKmDKKmDKKmEURm
Net turnover
DKKm
31
30
300
29
28
200
Equity excl. minority interests
Equity ratio
27
26
100
25
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
24
Financial year
6 • Profile 09
Profile 09 • 7
Development in average
number of employees and
operating profit
Number
DKKm
200
5,000
Development
in cash flow
DKKm
250
180
4,500
200
160
150
140
100
4,000
120
50
100
3,500
80
Average number of employees
Operating profit
0
Free cash flow
Cash flow from operating activities
3,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
60
-50
Financial year
Development in invested
capital end-of-year and
return on invested capital
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2007
2008
Financial year
DKKm
%
1,400
22
Development in
equity value
Net asset value per share
2,600
2,400
20
2,200
1,200
18
2,000
16
1,800
1,000
14
1,600
12
800
10
Invested capital end-of-year
Return on invested capital
600
2004
2005
Financial year
8 • Profile 09
1,400
2006
2007
2008
8
1,200
Equity value
1,000
2004
2005
2006
Financial year
Profile 09 • 9
Climate
consultants with ambitions
10 • Profile 09
Photo: Niels Åge Skovbo
By Kathrine Schmeichel
For cowi, when it comes to climate, the strategic ambition is nothing less than to become Denmark's leading
consultancy firm by 2010 and the leading choice for international customers. The goal is
part of a climate strategy launched
in 2008, and which, according to
R&D Director, cowi Denmark, Stig P.
Christensen, is an extension of
cowi's ambition to become a leader
when it comes to consulting in the
three Es – engineering, environment and economics.
“We already stand strong when it comes to climaterelated services, thanks to our experience within energy,
environment and society,” Christensen says. “As a large
consultancy firm involved in over 6,000 projects globally,
we can prevent greenhouse gas emissions, as well as
make sure that projects take the effects of climate
change into account. In that sense, the need to develop
responsible climate solutions and our corporate interests
are intertwined.”
Being a leader when it comes to climate consultancy
means also being able to document your own carbon
footprint. With that in mind, cowi used 2008 to calculate
its direct and indirect in-house climate impact. The information will be used in an action plan, expected to be
completed in spring 2009, for how cowi can further reduce its CO2 emissions “without it having a negative
impact on our customers or employees”, as Christensen
describes it.
In addition to working out the company's green balance sheet, cowi's management has also turned to the
company's employees to encourage business innovation
together with customers and generate ideas about how
to protect the climate on a personal and corporate level.
cowi has also run a climate awareness campaign in
the Danish media, as well as given its financial support
to events such as an international congress of climate
change researchers, who convened in Copenhagen in
March 2009.
cowi’s positive take on
climate issues can be seen
in our consultancy services
and in employees’ actions
COWI's management has
ices
s to find innovative business pract
loyee
ed emp
encourag
for climate adaptation and mitigation. Photo: Ulrik Jantzen
Business activities heavily
impacted by climate change
• Buildings and construction
• Energy production and efficient use
• Renewable energy
• Transport and infrastructure
• Carbon management
• Water and environment
• Climate and development
12 • Profile 09
Varying levels of climate consciousness
As an international company, the level of climate consciousness varies around the globe and influences the
possibilities for action locally.
“Working conditions and social conditions aren't the
same in Scandinavia and Northern Europe as they are
in Africa, the Middle East or Eastern Europe,” Christensen
says. “And for that reason, we have to tailor our climate
goals and advice to local conditions and adjust them
according to the importance the climate agenda has
for the sectors in which we operate.”
@
Stig P. Christensen, R&D Director,
COWI Denmark, [email protected]
Glo
a Global
network of local consultants
cowi Denmark
subsidiaries:
Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. (USA)
BST Østfyn A/S (Denmark)
Buckland & Taylor Ltd. (Canada)
Caribersa S.L. (Spain)
CAT Alliance Ltd. (UK)
cowi Belgium SPRL (Belgium)
cowi Consulting (Beijing) Ltd. Co. (China)
cowi India Private Ltd. (India)
cowi Korea Co., Ltd. (Korea)
cowi Mapping UK Ltd. (UK)
Flint & Neill Limited (UK)
Ocean & Coastal Consultants, Inc. (USA)
cowi Norway
subsidiaries:
Norsas AS
cowi Gulf
Bahrain
Oman
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Russia
Serbia
Turkey
cowi Africa
Mozambique
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
(2010) cowi Sweden
Gothenburg
cowi’s business strategy is to be
the consultant of choice for our
customers. Globalisation has increased competition among consultants, but it has also created
more opportunities for companies
which set up operations close to
their customers. Having a local
presence is a decisive parameter
for competitiveness. This line of
thought is the basis for cowi’s business strategy, which has established a tightly-knit, binding network of five regions – the One
Company Network. cowi’s regions
include Denmark, Norway, Central
& Eastern Europe, the Arabian Gulf
and Africa. The regional entities and
a number of specialist units are
grouped together by common
goals, values, processes, business
systems, knowledge-sharing and
employee exchange programmes.
The latest reports from cowi’s five regions
can be read on pages 14-24.
>
Profile 09 • 13
An increase in public-sector
cy services
imply growing demand for consultan
will
ts
investmen
related to infrastructure projects. Photo: Ulrik Jantzen
cowi Denmark
cowi Africa
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
cowi Gulf
cowi Norway
Rasmus Ødum
to develop its Climate Plan 2015,
which will map the city's CO2 emissions. The plan also includes an idea
catalogue for urban development focusing on creating green areas and
sustainable town planning.
On top of climate
and infrastructure
Climate and infrastructure investments
will drive business
activities in 2009
14 • Profile 09
By Christina Tækker
By the end of 2009, the round,
green building at the University of
Copenhagen will generate its own
green energy. Green Lighthouse will
be a sustainable building that will
use as little energy as possible for
Cityringen metro line
cowi handles area and rights utility relocation for Cityringen. In addition to
coordinating the relocation of underground cables, cowi, together with professional partners, is also one of the
primary consultants to the Copenhagen
Metro on all building and construction
related to Cityringen.
heating and ventilation, and which
will produce enough electricity to
run its lights.
Green Lighthouse is just one of a
number of climate-related projects
cowi Denmark is working on. cowi is
also helping the City of Copenhagen
Increasing interest in climate
cowi has partnered with the UKbased International Institute for
Environment and Development
(IIED) on an evaluation of the Least
Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) for
Danida, the Danish International
Development Agency. The evaluation
focuses on LDCF-funded National
Adaptation Programmes of Action
(NAPAs) in developing countries enabling them to adapt to negative consequences of climate change like
drought and flooding.
“Despite the financial crisis, we
have a robust business. Our business activities in Denmark are firmly
rooted across industry lines, and we
expect 2009 to be busy,” says Rasmus Ødum, Executive Vice President,
cowi Denmark, underscoring that
cowi Denmark saw solid growth in
2008. “We increased our market
share, and that is a position we intend to maintain.”
Ødum expects to see increasing
demand for services related to the
climate change agenda and energyrelated services, as well as construction that reduces CO2 emissions.
The climate campaign cowi kicked
off in 2008 will serve as the platform
for continued progress and development within this business area.
Investments in infrastructure
An increase in public-sector investments, due in part to the global financial crisis, will imply growing demand for core services related to
hospital construction and health
services, infrastructure projects including roads, bridges and railroads –
all of this based on planning and environmental impact assessments.
One example is the Cityringen metro
line.
In terms of working outside
Denmark, cowi stands strong when
it comes to construction, bridges,
tunnels, marine structures and engi-
Profile 09 • 15
A
cowi Denmark
COWI Africa
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
cowi Gulf
cowi Norway
Jan Mosbech Kieler
Further
into
Architects and engineers worked
the CO2-neutral, low-energy
closely together aiming at creating
building Green Lighthouse. Photo: CHRISTENSEN & CO arkitekter a/s
frica
neering projects. As part of a joint
venture with Denmark's Larsen
Architects, cowi is involved in the
design of two new international airports in Oman. cowi is also taking
part in projects building artificial islands and combined bridge and tunnel links.
“The projects in the Gulf are of
such a magnitude that they require
access to a lot of ressources and
international partners. We can do
this solely because we support all
cowi's regions,” says Ødum.
It's all about mobility
Ødum believes that crucial factors
for cowi Denmark in 2009 will be
mobility, flexibility and an ability to
draw upon resources across the
Group. One such example involves
cowi's office in India. Using engineers in India to draft technical
drawings at a lower cost than would
be possible in Denmark creates jobs
in both countries.
But, Ødum points out, if the customer base changes, the company
needs to be ready to react.
“This year, we are going to see a
good market for public sector infrastructure projects. But the financial
crisis will result in less activity
among private investors. The challenge will be to find the opportunities and move the resources accordingly so we can keep cowi Denmark
on a growth tack and maintain our
profitability.”
@
16 • Profile 09
Rasmus Ødum, Executive Vice
President, COWI Denmark,
[email protected]
Changing
international
donor strategies
benefit cowi’s
activities in Africa
Securing fresh water
of
supplies remains an important part
COWI Africa’s portfolio. Photo: Stig Stasig
By Uzi Frank
When heavy traffic and poor maintenance threatened to
close a stretch of central Africa’s Northern Corridor
Route, cowi Uganda won the contract in mid-2008 to
conduct a feasibility study and supervise repair work on
the two-lane highway.
The EUR 4 million contract might resemble so many
others in the company portfolio, but according to Jan
Mosbech Kieler, Vice President of cowi Africa, “the
project represents a textbook example of how cowi’s
work in Africa is changing.”
While international donors like the EU and Danida
used to contract to cowi or other consultants, they now
increasingly transfer money and resources directly to
local government.
Eyes and ears
“It’s a donor agenda that prioritises empowering local
governments and their role in the execution of donorfunded activities,” Kieler says.
According to Kieler, cowi's four national offices in
Africa can serve as the company's eyes and ears on the
continent. We can draw on their networks, and they can
be our point of entry to the local markets.
When contracts are secured with local governments,
the local offices draw on the expertise and resources of
the entire Group, regardless of whether they are dealing
with road construction in Uganda, water supply in
Zambia and Mozambique or economic management in
Tanzania.
“Through 2008, we saw a boom in opportunities with
governmental bodies in Africa and a significant decline
in the number of tenders from multilateral and bilateral
donor agencies,” Kieler reports. “This makes having a
local presence increasingly important.”
@
Jan Mosbech Kieler, Vice President,
COWI Africa, [email protected]
Profile 09 • 17
“We were able to build a strong
network and a good understanding
of the market from the start”
Peter Hostrup Rasmussen, Vice President, COWI CEE
cowi Denmark
cowi Africa
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
cowi Gulf
cowi Norway
Peter Hostrup Rasmussen
By Uzi Frank
A few days after meeting with the prime minister of
a Central European country as part of a Danish trade
delegation, cowi’s Vice President of cowi Central &
Eastern Europe, Peter Hostrup Rasmussen, received a
phone call. It was the same country’s environment
minister, and he also wanted to talk.
Rasmussen was surprised – but not too surprised.
“I had told the prime minister that if we use our stateof-the-art knowledge, we could help his country cut the
energy consumption of its buildings in half,” he says.
“That got their attention.”
According to Rasmussen, the top-level meeting provides a demonstration of cowi’s growing relevance in
Central and Eastern Europe, some two decades after the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
He explains that cowi was one of the first western
consulting firms to start doing business in the new CEE
market, setting up operations in countries such as
Hungary, Lithuania and Russia.
“We were able to build a strong network and a good
understanding of the market from the start,” he says.
Major projects have included overseeing a highly effi-
In the
middle
of things
Bustling Budapest has been
I CEE
the starting point for numerous COW
Photo: Getty Images
projects
EU funds are
expected to boost
growth in Central
and Eastern Europe
cient power plant in Lithuania and overhauling a 500kilometre section of Poland’s rail system.
In autumn 2008, the region had grown to 310 fulltime staff members and changed its name from cowi
East EU to cowi Central & Eastern Europe to indicate the
inclusion of the non-EU countries of Serbia, Russia and
Turkey.
Rasmussen admits that with seven countries and as
many official languages, the vast CEE region faces challenges. The global financial crisis, for example, has already halted the Baltics’ double-digit growth.
Despite these obstacles, Rasmussen remains optimistic as he describes a region “in the middle” – geographically in Europe as well as in terms of growth.
In the next years, he predicts a second phase of construction, or what he calls “the Big Bang”, will begin, as
the EU makes massive amounts of structural funds
available. In Poland alone, some EUR 66 billion will be
infused over the next five years.
“Some people are better at seeing barriers instead
of possibilities. But I’m convinced the possibilities have
greater value than the barriers,” he says. “And fortunately the new cowi leadership understands this.”
@
Peter Hostrup Rasmussen, Vice President,
COWI Central & Eastern Europe, [email protected]
Major projects:
• Power plant in Panavezys, Lithuania
• Wastewater treatment in Serbia and Turkey
• Overhauling public transport in Szeged, Hungary
• Airport design in Vilnius and Riga
• Modernising Poland’s railway system
Photo: Panavezio Energija
18 • Profile 09
Profile 09 • 19
cowi Denmark
cowi Africa
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
cowi Gulf
cowi Norway
Ervin Haukrogh
By Janne Toft Jensen
From a distance, the construction site at
Villamar resembles an anthill. Hundreds of
workers are in the midst of establishing the
luxurious waterfront development in
Bahrain's capital, Manama, as a landmark
residential complex. The most visible result
of the effort is the daily growth of the three
gently twisting towers at the heart of the development.
The highest of these buildings will top out
at 55 stories. Other details of the project include parks, a boardwalk with shops and cafés and villas that seem to float in the air.
cowi's role in the prestigious development of
Bahrain Financial Harbour has included
drawing up the structural design and supervising construction.
Villamar is just the latest high-rise project
cowi's consultants have won in the Gulf. In
Bahrain, a focused strategy to get a foot in
the booming market for high-rises has
proved fruitful.
Ervin Haukrogh, Vice President, cowi Gulf,
describes the development as characteristic
of the company's activities in the region.
“We are focused on growth and on expanding business within cowi's key competencies – not just in construction, but also
transport, marine and coastal engineering,
energy and environment,” Haukrogh says.
“We need to think holistically so that we can
offer our customers a whole spectrum of
services and so that our employees will continue to see cowi as an interesting place to
work.”
Next stop: Saudi Arabia
cowi Gulf numbers 400 employees working
from offices in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, as
well as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ajman in the
United Arab Emirates. During 2009, the goal
is to expand the services to other Gulf countries and open an office in Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia is a promising market,”
Haukrogh explains. “Some countries will be
hit harder than others during the global recession, but oil exporters will be less affected. For that reason, we need to expand our
operations.”
Infrastructure projects – such as roads,
highway and railway projects – are expected
to be a source of growth in the coming years,
as are marine and coastal engineering
projects. In addition, the coming year will
see cowi Gulf focusing on sustainability and
on the environment.
“Sustainability and the environment are
gaining increasing importance in the Gulf,
and we know that environmental regulations
will become tougher in the entire region,”
Haukrogh says. “We need to brand ourselves
as a company that offers sustainable ser­
vices. One way to do that is through partnerships with other cowi regions.”
@
Ervin Haukrogh, Vice President,
COWI Gulf, [email protected]
Reachingnew
heights
in the Gulf
High-rise buildings, infrastructure and artificial islands
are fuelling cowi Gulf's fast pace of growth
Selected projects – 2008
• Al Zorah, Ajman, UAE
• 170 kilometres highway, Oman
• New opera house, Oman
• Doha New Port, Qatar
• Oman International Airport
• Bahrain-Qatar Causeway
Under construction. The Gulf
s to transform
region’s real estate boom continue
skylines like Dohar in Qatar. Photo: Stig Stasig
Profile 09 • 21
Finding
Expansion
new
ways
In addition to opening a new office in
Kongsberg that offers mapping services,
cowi Norway will establish addresses in
Drammen and Notodden. cowi Norway
sees the expansion as a way to increase
its share of the overall consultancy market. A transport division will also be set
up in Trondheim.
services
COWI has provided consultancy
e.
on fireproofing on Oslo's Opera Hous
Photo: Jiri Havran
to fight fire
cowi Norway has developed fire
prevention methods that protect historic wooden houses as
well as bold new buildings like
the Oslo Opera House
cowi Denmark
cowi Africa
cowi Central & Eastern Europe
cowi Gulf
cowi Norway
Christian Nørgaard Madsen
By Christina Tækker
The 450 wooden buildings in the town of Røros, about
400 kilometres north of Oslo, stand almost eave to eave.
Thanks to a safety design developed by cowi, it is likely
they will continue to do so even if a fire breaks out.
Most of the buildings in Røros date from the 18th and
19th centuries and are part of the reason why the former
copper mining town is listed as a Unesco World Heritage
Centre.
Similar towns have been reduced to ashes by fire, but
should fire break out in Røros, the temperature surge will
be captured by a thermal imaging camera installed in the
steeple of the town’s church. The camera will then immediately send a signal to the fire station, giving it time
to react before the fire catches hold.
In addition to the camera, the system includes water
mist nozzles mounted in the attics of the buildings. To
eliminate the risk of water damage, the pipes are normally empty but release a fine mist when the
fire brigade’s pumper is connected
to the system.
International
Specialist
Leaders
core competencies and an important part of our consultancy services,” says Christian Nørgaard Madsen,
Executive Vice President of cowi Norway.
cowi Norway had a busy 2008. The 660 employees
are spread between 23 offices and organic growth led
to an additional 112 in 2008 alone.
cowi Norway is one the leading consultants in the
hospital construction field, which continues to be an
area of focus. Planned activities in 2009 include St
Olav Hospital in Trondheim, the New Molde Hospital,
Nordland Hospital in Bodø and a new children’s ward
at Ålesund Hospital.
“The challenge is to meet hospitals' needs for ensuring care, comfort, efficiency and quality,” says
Alvin Wehn, a cowi health services co-ordinator. “We
have a lot of experience when it comes to designing
hospitals and all their various functions – operation
theatres, labs, psychiatric departments, patient
rooms and service divisions.”
Fire is a major concern in Norway where many
I has developed a comprehensive
buildings are made of wood. COW
fire suppression plan for the town of Røros. Photo: Crea
cowi began designing the system in 2001 and completed installation in 2008.
Fighting fire with purified air
The Røros fire protection project is just one of several
cowi Norway is involved in. At hospitals in Trondheim,
Molde and Ålesund, cowi designs apply the
latest technology – Hypoxic Air Venting
(HAV) – as a method of preventing fire and
Fire protection for wooden buildings
explosions in rooms where flammable liqcowi Norway was the first company in the
uids are stored.
world to come up with fire suppression plans
In some hospitals, the same technology
for entire towns that required only minimal
is also used as a way to reduce recuperachanges to historic wooden buildings. In addition times after operations or rehabilitation.
tion to heat-sensitive cameras, cowi, together
HAV is a method of filtering recirculated
with its partners, has developed a water mister
air in rooms then lowering its oxygen consystem known as ‘flashover suppression’ used
tent as a way of preventing common matein the stave churches.
rials from igniting. cowi has also drawn up
the specifications for installing HAV in four
pre-planned hospitals in Ålesund, Molde, Tromsø and
Bergen as well as in control rooms and museums.
“Fire is a serious problem that can destroy lives as
well as buildings. Today, fire prevention is one of our
Private sector slow down
cowi Norway expects 2009 to be a busy year in other
areas of public sector development such as water, environment and infrastructure projects like roads and
railways. One example of planned activity is an extension of the Alnabru Terminal, a hub for container
shipping in Norway that plays a key role in the distribution of goods throughout the country. The project
is being carried out together with cowi Denmark and
ETC Germany.
“It’s no secret that the market isn’t going to grow
as fast in 2009 as it did in 2008,” Madsen says. “I
foresee growth in public sector construction activities
as well as projects relating to infrastructure, waste
water treatment, environment and power. Private
construction, however, is going to decrease.”
@
Christian Nørgaard Madsen, Executive Vice
President, COWI Norway, [email protected]
“Fire is a serious problem that can
destroy lives as well as buildings”
Christian Nørgaard Madsen, Executive Vice President, cowi Norway.
24 • Profile 09
The foundation for the cowi
Group’s business operations is our
ability to provide multidisciplinary
services for local markets as well as
specialised services for the global
market. While we offer our full palette of services to local and regional
customers, the International
Specialist Leader (ISL) services are
marketed at a global level.
When servicing local markets, geographic proximity to customers and
a multidisciplinary approach create a
decisive advantage. When it comes
to providing ISL services, the ability
to offer the highest international
standard becomes apparent.
It is the interplay between highvolume local business and specialised international niche projects
which makes the cowi brand
unique.
The latest reports from cowi’s five international
specialist services can be read on pages 26-43.
>
Profile 09 • 25
e
l
a
c
s
c
i
t
n
a
g
i
ag
e
n
i
Mar
n
o
s
t
c
e
j
pro
Chinese workers are close to
completing the work on nine kilometres of block walls in
the Lusail development. Photo: Stig Stasig
The Lusail project has involved
land reclamation on a massive scale, necessitating the shifting
of approximately 23 million m3 of material for the
construction of islands, beaches and canals. Photo: Stig Stasig
Enormous artificia
l islands,
new coastlines
and major oil terminals – cowi is where the action
s
big marine project
to
s
e
m
co
it
n
e
h
is w
International network
Marine and coastal engineering employees are among cowi’s most internationalised. With a project portfolio that spans
the entire world, they conduct much of
their work online, creating a virtual network that makes the most of diverse cultural and national backgrounds.
By Janne Toft Jensen
Mogens A. Hviid
Standing at the top of what will in a
few years be a bustling city in the
Gulf, the vastness of the view is
breathtaking. As far as the eye can
see, gently sloping, sandy land is interrupted only by steep block walls
that drop into dried-out canals. The
heavy construction equipment appears as mere toys in the enormous
area.
The new development to the
north of the capital city of Doha,
Lusail, measures 22 square kilometres and is Qatar’s largest mixed-use
development to date. In just a few
years, as many as 450,000 people
will live, visit and work here.
The seven kilometres of new
coastline and the five new islands
will be the site of houses, high-rises
with luxury flats, office space, an entertainment district, sports facilities
including a golf course, hotels and
much more.
“We’re turning a flat beach into an
exciting new area. A new town with
amenities of the highest standards
and an exciting green environment
located on the outskirts of Doha will
no doubt appeal to local, regional
and international investors and
businesses," says cowi project
director Mogens A. Hviid.
Holding back the ocean
For the time being, the final phase
of the land formation and coastal
28 • Profile 09
protection phase has the area writhing with activity. Dust and an infernal racket bellows out of 25 stone
crushers chewing their way through
the limestone subsurface. The debris left over by their work will be
crushed further, then sorted and
used as landfill in the last part of the
development. Although the project
is scheduled for completion several
years from now, most of the plots of
land in the Lusail development have
already been sold.
cowi has been involved in the
project since early 2004, initially as
sub-consultant to US-based Bechtel
during the master planning and subsequently as sub-consultant to UKbased Halcrow for design and supervision of all infrastructure works.
cowi has been responsible for the
geotechnical and hydraulic studies,
environmental assessments, all marine and coastal structures and a total of nine marine bridges.
Keeping the water back while
construction crews dug canals and
spread new soil required the entire
area to be put behind some ten kilometres of temporary bunds. When
these bunds are removed in 2009
and the water cascades into the canals, it will be up to the nine kilometres of block walls, 23 kilometres of
rock revetments and four kilometres
of sandy beaches to keep the land
and the sea separate.
A growth business
Land and sea are the two keywords
for Ole Juul Jensen, Director, Marine
and Coastal Engineering, an organisational unit of cowi that works with
everything from land reclamation
and coastal and waterfront development to ports and marine terminals,
special marine structures and immersed tunnels.
One of the primary activities for
Juul Jensen and the 250 employees
in this field of services is land reclamation. Their projects span the
globe, but for the time being most
of them are located in the Arabian
Gulf. Other major areas of engineering services include gas and oil terminals and foundations for offshore
wind turbines. A recent project is
the design of a flood wall for safeguarding New Orleans.
cowi’s marine and coastal consultancy activities have grown considerably over the past ten years, and
annual turnover is now over EUR 33
million. Projects are carried out
from 12 offices and subsidiaries in
Denmark, the US, Qatar, the UAE
and India. Recently, the goal of becoming one of the three largest marine engineering companies was
reached, as the internationally recognised Engineering News-Record
(ENR) named cowi the consultant
with the largest overseas turnover in
the world within the fields of ports,
marine and coastal structures.
In order to ensure continued
growth, marine and coastal engineering is constantly expanding.
Most recently another 20 employees
were hired to work with CAD, numerical modelling and engineering
at cowi’s office in India. And 2009
could see further expansion by
growth and acquisition.
Turns away orders
In the coming years, Juul Jensen
would like to see cowi win bids for
gas and oil terminals in the receiving ends of the exports from the
Gulf. Another rapid growth area in
focus is offshore wind farms that
are likely to see tremendous growth
in coming years.
“The primary factor that limits our
growth is the number of qualified
staff we can recruit,” he says. “As it
is, we have to turn away potential
orders every week. It is especially
hard to find international project
managers who are willing to travel
and live overseas as much as the job
requires.”
Despite the situation, Juul Jensen’s
outlook is optimistic.
“The market for marine and coastal consultancy services has never
been better. Our brand is growing
stronger, and I believe that by reaching this international position, we
will be an attractive workplace for
many professional marine, geotechnical and coastal engineers.”
@
@
Ole Juul Jensen, Director,
Marine and Coastal Engineering,
[email protected]
Mogens A. Hviid, project director,
[email protected]
Profile 09 • 29
came New plan
e s an
ra s a
advan nd scanne d the late
st
r
t ag e
in the s secure a
n
mapm competitiv
e
akin
Photo
: Mor g sector.
ten L
arsen
Facts about OCC
Ocean and Coastal Consultants began
in 1983 as a small coastal engineering
consulting firm and became a member of the cowi Group in 2007. Today
it maintains offices in Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Jersey and Aruba.
OCC provides its services to a wide
variety of customer groups.
Smile
,
cowi you’re
in a
map
By Ka
thrin
John Chapman
By Henrik Larsen
Engineers certified
as divers give Ocean and Coastal
Consultants an advantage
The Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty emerge
from the morning fog over Upper New York Bay, but the
three engineers from Ocean and Coastal Consultants
hardly take notice of it. For them, a waterfront view
– this one from an oil terminal in New Jersey – comes
with the job.
Group leader Mike Ajemian and his colleagues are engineers by trade. But because they are also divers, they
are uniquely qualified to inspect the steel piles supporting one of America’s largest petrol tank farms.
“We start by measuring them all the way up to the pier
to make sure that they still match the original blueprints.
Then we dive and check the steel piles from top to bottom and take pictures of the most seriously damaged
areas,” explains Ajemian.
“There’s nothing like a picture of a heavily corroded
steel pile to convince a customer he needs to do something about his facility.”
As part of the cowi Group, Ocean and Coastal Consultants operates along the East Atlantic Coast from Maine
in the north to Florida in the south.
Competition among consulting engineering firms is
especially tough in the eastern US, but OCC is one of the
industry leaders. And its diving engineers are a service
customers are willing to pay extra for.
“Our diving engineers get a firsthand view of what the
problem is. That makes a difference when it is time to
decide what repairs or changes need to be made,” says
John Chapman, Vice President and Senior Project
Manager.
OCC, based in the state of Connecticut, has a staff of
25 diving engineers.
Shoring up
America’s ports
@
John Chapman, Vice President and Senior
Project Manager, [email protected]
30 • Profile 09
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Profile 09 • 31
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32 • Profile 09
A bird's eye view of the City of Arts and
ctions. The huge educational
Sciences, one of Spain's leading attra
complex was designed for Valencia by the renowned Spanish
architect Santiago Calatrava. Photo: COWI
Facts about photos
• Orthophotos: Adjusted aerial photographs
suitable for use as maps.
• Oblique aerial photographs: Aerial photographs of an area taken oblique from four
directions.
• 3D city models: Digital models composed
of contour models, orthophotos and 3D objects
such as buildings.
• Height models: A digital 3D model of landscapes.
• Other products: Vector maps, technical maps
and topographic maps.
bigger
...
Bridge building business booming
Big,
With some of the world’s biggest and
longest bridge projects on its order books,
the International Specialist Leader service
Major Bridges is living up to its name
The village of Askar, Bahrain.
's longest bridge,
In a few years, this is where the world
the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway, will make land. Photo: Stig Stasig
mega
Construction of Busan-Geoje
fixed link, Korea. Photo: COWI
Kong, Sutong in China, Busan-Geoje
in Korea and Sungai Johor in
Malaysia.
According to Director for Major
Bridges, Lars Hauge, it is not a coincidence that cowi is involved in
some of the world’s biggest bridge
construction projects.
“One of our stated goals is to play
a role in at least 75 per cent of the
mega-projects that are available to
us. We want to be in the top three
when it comes to bridge consultants. We’re very close to reaching
Arabia. But, starting in 2013, a direct motorway connection will
make it possible to drive there in
30 minutes, thanks to the 22-kilometres worth of bridges and the
18-kilometre causeway. Also being
considered is a rail line.
By Janne Toft Jensen
There is hardly a breath of air along the beach in Askar, a
village just south of Bahrain’s capital city, Manama. The
small boats moored in the shallow water bob silently, and
nearby a group of boys is playing in the water, but they
can do little to dispel the blanket of sleepiness that sits
on the town.
It is hard to imagine that this quiet salt marsh stretching from Askar to the north will become a traffic nexus in
the near future. Just a few hundred metres from where
the boys are playing, the world’s longest bridge – the
Qatar-Bahrain Causeway – will make land, helping to create jobs and tying the Gulf region together.
The bridge’s other end – the peninsula of Qatar – is 40
kilometres away and is well over the horizon. Right now,
getting there requires a five-hour detour through Saudi
Lars Hauge
The contruction of Stonecutters
e for the design of
e in Hong Kong. COWI is responsibl
Bridg
the towers, steel superstructure and stay cables. Photo: COWI
36 • Profile 09
Dizzying pace
Some 150 kilometres away, in a
13th floor office in Qatar’s capital
Doha, the atmosphere is anything
but sleepy. The world’s longest
bridge needs to be completed in
five years, and it is here the plans to make sure that happens are being drawn up.
cowi has been engaged by the Qatar-Bahrain
Causeway Consortium to design the bridge. Some 40
employees from all over the world are working overtime
to come up with the concept and basic design. That
number is expected to reach 200 in 2009 when the detailed design and construction phase gets under way.
“This is a gigantic project,” says project director
Mogens A. Hviid. “We’re working with incredible
amounts of material – the bridge section alone is going
to require some 900 precast concrete sections weighing
some 2,000 tonnes each.”
As an example of the pace a project of this magnitude
requires, Hviid says that in order to stay on schedule,
one of these huge concrete elements needs to be produced and installed in its final position each day during
the peak of the construction phase. “That makes risk
management and logistics – and the project as a whole –
a major engineering challenge.”
cowi has been involved in the project since 2001,
during the early stages when the idea for the bridge was
being hatched. At that time, the consultants were responsible for preliminary studies and environmental
assessments. The final design includes five bridges, six
embankments, two rest islands and two navigation
channels, each element meeting the strict requirements
established to protect the vulnerable marine ecosystem
in the narrow, shallow strait between the two countries.
Multiple mega
The Qatar-Bahrain Causeway is just one of several
“mega-projects” that cowi's Major Bridges unit, one
of cowi’s International Specialist Leader services, is
working on, including the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong
this goal.”
cowi’s big bridge activities have experienced rapid
growth over the past decade and now employ a staff of
about 300. The projects are overseen from offices in
Denmark, Norway, Qatar and China, as well as from subsidiaries Buckland & Taylor in Canada, cowi Korea in
Korea and Flint & Neill in the UK.
According to Hauge, cowi has the capacity to work on
any phase of a bridge construction project. “However,
one of our strong sides is the technical – the hard-core
engineering," he says.
“And that’s also what makes it fascinating. We draw up
the blueprints and then someone else goes out, takes
some reinforcing steel and builds the world’s longest
bridge based on our drawings.”
The ambitions in bridge consultancy do not stop with
the world’s longest bridge, however. Hauge has set his
sights on expanding the number of geographic areas
where the company is active and on landing more
projects just below the
“mega” classification.
Those goals have him
on the constant lookout for
new companies to acquire,
the latest one being the acquisition of suspension
bridge specialists
Flint & Neill in the UK in
December 2008. Because
when it comes to the future of bridge building, the
future does not merely look
bright, it also looks big.
Lusail Ring Bridges,
@
@
Qatar. Photo: COWI
Lars Hauge, Director,
Major Bridges, [email protected]
Mogens A. Hviid, project director,
[email protected]
Profile 09 • 37
Giant tunnels
ma ke congestion
disappear
As environment and
infrastructure investments increase in importance,
so too does the demand for big tunnels
By Christina Tækker
Doha’s traffic has a reputation for
being bad. But if predictions hold,
congestion in Qatar’s capital city is
nothing compared with the traffic
situation down the road. Within the
next 20 years, the number of cars in
the Gulf state is expected to increase
three-fold. Rapid growth that includes two new city districts housing 250,000 people and a new airport calls for a plan.
How that plan will look has yet to
be determined. But Qatar’s Urban
Planning & Development Authority
has selected cowi to conduct a preliminary study of how infrastructure
can be improved and to draw up
suggestions for possible courses of
action. cowi consultants expect that
dealing with the increased traffic will
require running the main northsouth thoroughfare through an
eight-kilometre, eight-lane tunnel
under Doha Bay.
“Our studies show that most of
the traffic will have to go through a
tunnel rather than over a bridge,
even though it is more expensive,”
says cowi project manager Ejgil Veje.
“Part of the reason for that is the
strict requirements set out by the
New Doha International Airport. The
other reason is that a bridge would
restrict sailing on the bay, and sailing is predicted to become an important tourism activity.”
Big tunnels in high demand
The Doha project is just one of sev-
eral major tunnel projects cowi is
involved in.
In Venezuela, cowi is designing a
fixed link across the Lake Maracaibo,
which includes a four kilometre long
immersed tunnel.
Whether urban developers choose
to build a bored or immersed tunnel,
they have good reasons for including tunnels in infrastructure projects.
One of them – especially important
in areas with a lot of shipping traffic
– is that tunnels are less disruptive to
surface activity. Tunnels are also often easier on the environment, easier on the eye and are less disruptive
to existing traffic patterns. Despite
the global financial crisis, cowi saw
increasing interest in tunnels in
2008.
“Tunnels are becoming more popular in cities and urban areas as environment and infrastructure investments take priority,” explains Anton
Petersen, Vice President, Bridge,
Tunnel and Marine Structures.
“Tunnels are becoming more popular in cities and urban areas”
Anton Petersen, Vice President, Bridge, Tunnel and Marine Structures
Anton Petersen
38 • Profile 09
Tunnels – like Copenhagen's Metro
- are becoming more popular in cities
and urban areas as environment and
infrastructure investments take
priority. Photo: Stig Stasig
Profile 09 • 39
The sultanate’s
Head of Department for Tunnel &
Underground Structures, Torsten
Mølgaard, expects the level of tunnel
building to remain high in the next
few decades, especially for bored
tunnels.
“Twenty years from now, you’re
not going to see a single city with
over a million people that doesn’t
have a subway system. Right now
it’s Europe, but Asia – led by China
and India – are next.”
Round the clock tunnelling
cowi is involved in tunnel projects
around the world. Most recently, we
were chosen to carry out a review of the
28-kilometre long tunnel under the
Strait of Gibraltar. Tunnelling in the
rock and soil under the strait will require
the development of new technologies.
On top in tunnels
No place is this clearer than in
Scandinavia. In Denmark, cowi is
responsible for a number of tasks in
conjunction with construction of the
Copenhagen Cityringen metro line.
In addition to handling area and
rights (A&R) and utility relocation,
cowi is also lead consultant for all
civil works.
And in Stockholm, the capital of
neighbouring Sweden, cowi has led
planning for construction of a 300
metre immersed tunnel for the city’s
new six-kilometre Citybanan subway.
cowi is a world leader when it
comes to immersed tunnels and is
active internationally in projects involving bored tunnels over 15 metres
in diameter.
“It’s a challenge, because the tunnels are getting bigger and bigger,”
Petersen says. “We’re building tunnels today at water depths and on
soft surfaces where it was impossible to build tunnels just a few years
ago. That forces us to constantly
think of new ways of doing things.”
Amongst the new techniques
cowi employs are soil reinforcements where cement is mixed with
sand and steel fibre reinforced concrete to avoid the rust that arises
from traditional methods.
@
new airports
Development of two international airports
in Oman is one of the biggest projects in
cowi’s history. It also makes the company
one of the world’s largest airport consultants
Anton Petersen, Vice President,
Bridge, Tunnel and Marine
Structures, [email protected]
A view over Oman's capital, Muscat,
o: COWI
rt will enter service in 2012. Phot
airpo
new
where a
By Henrik Larsen
Visualisation of entrance
to the tunnel in Doha. Photo: COW
40 • Profile 09
I
Airplanes still take off and land
at the airport in Muscat, but after 35
years in service, the main airport
serving Oman’s capital is beginning
to groan with age. So it was a welcome sign of relief for travellers
when, in the summer of 2008, the
first million cubic metres of landfill
was spread out on the site of a new
runway and new access roads.
If the development of Muscat
International Airport – with its new
passenger terminal, two runways,
cargo terminal, 6,000 parking spaces and more – is one of the biggest
projects in cowi’s history. The
project was awarded jointly with
Larsen A&CE.
Once the first planes start landing in Muscat in 2012, the airport
will have an annual capacity of 12
million passengers with the ability
to expand its capacity up to 48 million. The cowi-Larsen joint venture
is also working on an expansion of
the airport in Salalah, Oman’s second largest city.
“The Oman project has given us a
unique opportunity to build up a lot
of expertise,” says Jens Christoffersen,
Vice President for Railways, Roads
and Airports. “We’re at the point
where we can handle nearly all
types of consultancy projects in all
phases of airport development.”
Profile 09 • 41
Multi-year project
Only the strong survive
The market for airport construction is, according to Christoffersen,
somewhat atypical due to the
complexity and the large number
of disciplines involved.
“Based on turnover outside the
domestic market, cowi is one of the
ten largest airport consultants in the
world, and the competition is extremely tough. Building airports is
such a complex task that only the
biggest multidisciplinary consultancy firms that are truly experts at their
trade can hang on at the top.”
As proof of the quality of cowi’s
work, Christoffersen points to the
new cowi-designed airport in
Hyderabad, India, which opened in
early 2008 without a hitch.
“Everything worked the way it
should. The customer can’t stop
talking about how well it performs."
Sustainable design
cowi’s design for the Oman airports
include a number of climate-friendly
details, due to increasing attention
placed on climate change by the
Gulf states.
One of the biggest power savers
will be a district cooling system that
will consume 50 per cent less electricity than decentralised air conditioners. Other measures to reduce
cooling needs include highly insulated materials in the building envelope
and making sure that the buildings
are tightly sealed.
New ways of working
cowi’s turnover on airport construction has tripled within the past three
cowi, together with Larsen A&CE and
Copenhagen Airports, was awarded the
Oman airport project in 2005. At the
end of 2008, cowi Larsen JV entered into a contract for construction supervision of the airports, as well as services
for the remediation period after the inauguration in 2012.
years, and according to Christoffersen, cowi makes a major effort to
cultivate partnerships at all levels
with customers.
“We work with what we call
‘loops’,” he says. “It means that we
regularly revisit the demand for the
project with the customer in order to
make sure we are aligned and heading in the right direction. Developing
a new airport can take between five
and ten years, so you can’t assume
that the demand at time of inauguration is the same as the needs you
started out with.”
No levelling of growth in sight
With forecasts for air traffic continuing to point skyward in the coming
decades, Christoffersen expects airport construction to follow suit, despite the current global financial situation.
“We’re determined not to let the
experience we’ve gained in Oman
go to waste, and we’re constantly
on the lookout for new orders. We’ve
got a good pipeline of projects that
includes an airport in Eastern Europe
and a new terminal to the Oslo
Airport in Norway. The new terminal
will increase the capacity from 20
to 28 million passengers, and it is
expected to be completed in 2013.”
@
Jens Christoffersen, Vice President,
Railways, Roads and Airports,
[email protected]
From 2012, the airport in
of 12 million
Muscat will have an annual capacity
passengers. Photo: Stig Stasig
Jens Christoffersen
42 • Profile 09
Profile 09 • 43
Visit www.cowi.com
cowi’s annual report
goes online
cowi’s Annual Report 2008 will be published solely
in an online version that can be downloaded as of
23 April from our website, www.cowi.com. The annual report contains key figures, the management's
review, the financial review and accounts as well as
the intellectual capital report. And for the first time,
cowi will present a green account of its impact on
the environment.