THE NORTH

8 Energy for the future LNG from Hammerfest | 24 Kids and careers Scandinavians manage both |31 Space travel Danish inventors head for the stars | 37 Spitsbergen Seed vault beneath the permafrost

Bilfinger Berger Magazine02 2011

Laboratory of opportunity

Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011 // 32 \\ IMPRINT

Bilfinger Berger Magazinewww.magazine.bilfinger.com

Published byBilfinger Berger SECarl-Reiss-Platz 1–5 68165 MannheimGermanyTel. + 49 (0) 621 459-0Fax + 49 (0) 621 459-2366www.bilfinger.com

Editorial director:Michael Weber, Bilfinger BergerProject management:Dr. Daniela Simpson, Bilfinger BergerBernd Hauser, agentur.zsContact:magazine@bilfinger.comDesign and layout:Steven Dohn, Theo Nonnen,Bohm und Nonnen, Büro für GestaltungPhoto editing: Helge Rösch, agentur.zs

Cover design: Steven DohnLitho: Goldbeck ArtPrinting: ColorDruck LeimenTranslation:Baker & Harrison, Bruce MacPhersonCirculation coordination:Business Service Weber

Bilfinger Berger Magazine is published in German and English. All rights are reserved.Items by named contributors do not neces -sarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. The reprinting or electronic distribution ofarticles or excerpts of articles is prohibitedwithout the express permission of the pub -lisher. Bilfinger Berger Magazine is printed on FSC certified paper.

HERBERT BODNERChairman of the Executive Board of Bilfinger Berger SE

Why is it that the Scandinavians are so often ahead of oth-er Europeans? Is it the cold that spurs them on? Are thelong nights conducive to creative performance? We don’tknow exactly. But one thing is certain: they delight in tak-ing a fresh and experimental approach to complex issues.That’s why Denmark, Norway and Sweden often arrive atsolutions before the rest of Europe has even departed.

Our company has been involved in pioneering projects in Scandinavia for many years. In Hammerfest, Bilfinger Berger provides services for Europe’s largest gas liquefac-tion plant. It will play an important role in developing gasreserves beneath the Arctic Ocean. We also helped build theCity Tunnel in the Swedish city of Malmö. The tunnel is thekey to a modern redevelopment program that qualifiesMalmö as an example for other industrial cities in Europe.

When it comes to equal opportunities, the Scandinaviansare also setting the pace. Not only are public sector childcare services outstanding, modern role models and flexi-ble working conditions are also exemplary. Two Norwegianfamilies shared with us how they manage to combinehome life and careers — and the price they pay for doing so.

Yours truly,

WHAT WE LEARN FROM NORTHERN EUROPE

ON THE ISLAND MELKØYA IN NORTHERN NORWAY, GAS FROMSTORAGE LOCATIONS IN THE POLAR SEA IS LIQUEFIED.

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24 (WO)MEN AT WORKMany of Bilfinger Berger’s femaleemployees in Norway have children,but still find time for a career. That’s not unusual in Scandinavia:the work culture is family-oriented,and fathers also do more around the house than in other Europeancountries. We paid a visit.

28 MAMA’S BOYSBecause men listen to their mothers,Bilfinger Berger is hanging life-sizephotos on workshop and factorywalls in Norway: a health and safetycampaign that really hits home.

30 TO SPACE AND BACK“Space flight is something anyonecan do,” say the two Danish hands-on inventors Kristian von Bengtsonand Peter Madsen. To prove it,they’re building a rocket with mate-rials bought at the do-it-yourselfstore. It’s due to launch this year.

46 PIPPI POWERSeventy years ago Astrid Lindgrensat by her sick daughter’s bedsideand told her a tale of an uncommonlystrong and uncommonly cheeky little girl — and so Pippi Longstockingwas born. She not only revolutio n -ized children’s literature, but becamea new role model for women.

50 ROADS OF THE WORLD:EUROPEAN ROUTE 18The E 18 at the southern tip ofNorway was long regarded as a particularly dangerous route. The road was narrow and winding,with just one lane in each direction.In a complex feat of engineeringBilfinger Berger straightened thesection and widened it to four lanes.The project is one of Norway’s first public private partnerships.

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48 offshore windpark / Bilfinger Berger is building the foundations for DanTysk in the North Sea.ppp in northern ireland / Schoolsare being renovated and expanded in Belfast.improving the roads in poland / Expansion of National Road 8 order from eads / Assembly line for the new Airbus A350 XWB.

49 eu standards for belchatow / Europe’s largest lignite-burningpower plant is being modernized.texas oil industry / Construction of pumping stations and tank storage systems.so long, mates! / Bilfinger Berger sells its business in Australia.property management / Orders from BASF, Carl Zeiss and OrangeCommunications.munich / A new district on thegrounds of a former power station.

36 THE UNITED SEEDSMore and more plant species oncegrown as crops are disappearing.With the few that remain, man-kind could be ill-equipped to facethe challenges of climate change.Scientist Cary Fowler is collectingseed samples worldwide and storing them in a specially designedice cold vault in Spitsbergen.

40 GETTING BACK TO NATURE IN HIP HUTSNorwegians like to spend theirweekends and vacations close tonature, preferably in their own“Hytte.” The Juvet Landscape Hotelnear Ålesund has now reinventedthis time-honored tradition. Thearchitecture takes a back seat to theprimary objective: allowing guests to experience nature to the fullest.

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COVER STORY /// THE NORTH

WOMEN POWER SPACE TRAVELURBAN DEVELOPMENT FEEDING THE WORLD ARCHITECTURE

8 THE NEW NORTHHammerfest in northern Norway isthe setting for Europe’s largest natu-ral gas liquefaction plant. It is thekey to the treasures of the ArcticOcean. Bilfinger Berger is providingservices at the site.

16 YOUNG MALMÖSweden’s third largest city was longregarded as an ugly duckling. Withthe collapse of the shipbuilding in-dustry, unemployment in Malmö wasrife. The city fathers set about develop -ing new infrastructures. Now Malmöhas reinvented itself as a confidentcenter of culture and education.

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GOT YOUR POLES WRONG?1. THE GEOGRAPHIC NORTH POLEis the intersection of the earth’s axis and the earth’s surface.You can only look south from here.

2. THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLEis the spot where the magnetic field lines of the earth’s mag -netic field are perpendicular to the earth’s surface and pointing towards earth’s center. It is constantly moving. The compassneedle therefore does not usually point precisely north.

3. NORTH POLE OF INACCESSIBILITYis the point in the Arctic Ocean which is farthest from any coast -line. Its coordinates are 84°03' north, 174°51' west. The distance fromhere to Alaska is 1453 kilometers, and to Ellesmere Island (Canada)and Franz Josef Land (Russia) it is 1094 kilometers in each case.

HAPPY DANESIt doesn’t matter which international rank -ings you look at: the people in Scandinaviaseem especially satisfied with their lives. Inthe “Gallup World Poll,” the results of whichwere published in Forbes magazine, Den-mark is ranked at the top of the list, followed by Finland, Norway and Sweden.Germany landed in 33rd place, between Belize and San Salvador.

BIG WORDS“In the North, the people aren’tall that hot-blooded; and they’re not all that hell-bent on chasing after women.”Voltaire

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SADDLEFAST SCANDINAVIANSA horse has four legs but can still stumble.from Denmark

Trust your own luck, but tether your horse.from Norway

It’s hard to get a horse to drink when it won’t lower its head.from Finland

The wildest foals turn out to be the best horses.from Denmark

There’s always something wrong with the horse that you can’t have.from Denmark

OF FALLING FLAGS AND FANSThe Danish national flag is one of the oldestin the world. It is said that in 1219, during abattle against the heathen Ests, which wasbelieved to have been as good as lost, the flagsuddenly fell from the sky and turned the for-tunes of war in favor of the Danes, who leftthe battlefield victorious.

“WE ARE RED, WE ARE WHITE,WE ARE DANISH DYNAMITE,”

is how today’s Danish soccer fans cheer ontheir team. However, they often wait in vainfor a similarly serendipitous outcome as inthe past, when the flag fell from the sky.

IN DALARNA, SWEDEN, CRAFTSMEN HAVE BEEN CARVING TOY HORSES FROM WOOD FOR CENTURIES. THEY HAVE BECOME A SYMBOL OF THE COUNTRY.

MIGHTY FASTThe Jacobshavn Isbræ is one of the fastest moving glaciers on earth. Every day, the giant mass of ice in western Greenlandshoves between 16 and 40 meters of ice into the ocean, up to35 billion tons per year. The icebergs that break off from theglacier are sometimes several kilometers long and up to a thou-sand meters high.

/// Psychologists from the University of California, Berkeley have discovered an unusual perceptual disorder. They askedtest persons how long they believed the journey to cities lo-cated 500 kilometers away would take: one of the cities wasin the north, the other in the south. The majority of those as-ked planned more time for the trip in a northerly direction. As a result, the scientists inferred that “heading south” sug-gests less time than “heading north.”

HEADINGNORTH

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THE NEWNORTH

/// Past and future stand side by side in Hammerfest. The past is madeof polished marble, crowned with a globe of bronze: The “MeridianMonument” marks the northern limit of the 19th century survey tomeasure the earth. 150 years ago this tiny fishing port was at the endof the world. Whereas the future burns bright on the small island ofMelkøya, just offshore: The gas flare at the liquefied natural gas planthas become the new symbol of Hammerfest.

AT THE NORTHERNMOST TIP OF EUROPE STANDS THE CONTINENT’S LARGEST NATURAL GAS LIQUEFACTION PLANT: IT IS THE KEY TO LEVERAGING THE TREASURES OF THE ARCTIC.

M AT H I A S B E C K E R / T E X T / / / E R I C VA Z ZO L E R / P H OTO S

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MOST PEOPLE IN THE LITTLE TOWN OF HAMMERFEST USED TO WORK IN THE FISH INDUSTRY.TODAY, STATOIL’S GAS LIQUEFACTION PLANT (IN THE BACKGROUND) IS THE LARGEST EMPLOYER.

Less than ten years have passed since Melkøya providedbrief summer grazing for a few sheep. Codfish were hungout to dry in the sun. Then, in the summer of 2002, the Nor-wegian energy conglomerate Statoil came to Hammerfestwith 3,000 workers from 40 countries to build the giantgas liquefaction plant. Camps were set up outside of town,even cruise liners were leased to accommodate all the spe-cialists needed to tap a major source of energy for the future: a quarter of the world’s oil and gas reserves are believed to lie beneath the Arctic Ocean.

The gas liquefaction plant off the coast of Hammerfestis the first step towards exploiting these reserves. The

island of Melkøya is now home to gas tanks the size ofapartment blocks, holding up to 370,000 cubic meters ofliquefied gas — the product of the crude natural gas extracted 140 kilometers away in the Barents Sea. The gas is tapped with the aid of what are called subsea tem-plates. These are fully automated wellheads submerged to the seabed that extract the gas from deep below and direct it into the pipelines that lead to Melkøya. Some 13,000 tons are processed every day at the islandplant and liquefied at temperatures of minus 163 de-grees Celsius. Development is just beginning, with only the “Snøhvit” and “Albatross” gas fields tapped so far.

A third field called “Askeladd” will come on stream in2014. A fourth, “Tornerose,” is just now being explored. If the gas reserves there are equally bountiful, the lique-faction plant will double in size.

CLEAN IMAGE

In liquefied form, the gas is reduced to one six hundredthof its original volume. It is this property that allows it tobe shipped as far as the USA. The industry is profitingfrom concerns about climate change. Natural gas caus-es significantly fewer carbon dioxide emissions than coalor oil. In Hammerfest the CO2 released during liquefac-

THE LABYRINTH OF PIPES ON MELKØYA IS EXPOSED TO WIND AND SALT-LADEN AIR. MAINTENANCE IS A COMPLEX TASK.

TANKERS SHIP THE COMPRESSED LIQUEFIED GAS AS FAR AS SOUTHERN EUROPE AND THE USA.THERE ARE AROUND 320 OF THESE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE SPECIAL PURPOSE VESSELS WORLDWIDE.

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Bodø, but he yearned to return home. “When I walk aroundthe plant, it still fascinates me,” says Kvamme. Today he isone of the safety managers. His employer is BIS Industrier,a Norwegian subsidiary of Bilfinger Berger, charged withmaintaining and insulating the thousands of meters ofpipes required to produce liquefied gas.

Many of the pipelines are out in the open, exposed tothe aggressive effects of wind and saltwater. Working onthem, particularly up on the 65-meter tall “cold box” ex-posed on all sides, is not for the faint-hearted. Thanks to theGulf Stream, temperatures in Hammerfest rarely fall belowminus ten degrees. But when the wind blows it feels morelike minus 40. The workers wear masks to protect theirfaces from frostbite.

The pipes are also thickly wrapped — the liquefied gasinside is chilled to minus 163 degrees Celsius. To maintainsuch temperatures, BIS Industrier clads the pipes andvalves with multiple layers of different insulating materi-als — a science in itself.

OUT WITH THE FISH FACTORY, IN WITH THE CULTURE CENTER

“When it’s cold and the wind is whistling around you, your concentration fades,” says Kjetil Kvamme. “That is dangerous, especially for our scaffolders who sometimeswork at dangerous heights and in places that are hard to reach.” One of their most important skills is their abili-ty to accurately estimate their own limitations. Which is why Kjetil trains his people in rescuing colleagues in distress. “Our target is to get an accident victim to safety within five minutes, anywhere in the plant,” Kjetil Kvamme explains. Fortunately his rescue team have so far only ever had to turn out for exercises: In three and a half years and around three million workinghours, apart from a few scratches, there has not been a single accident.

BIS Industrier has 70 workers permanently employed on the island. In spring when the plant undergoes a thorough inspection, the number increases to around 250. Most of them work two weeks on, three weeks off,

tion is even pumped back beneath the seabed, 700,000tons of it each year. This clean image is one of the reasonsgas consumption is growing worldwide. According to astudy by corporate consultants A. T. Kearney, between now and 2030 the proportion of liquid gas will grow by an average of six percent per year. The Arctic reserves willplay a major part in this development.

FACEMASKS AGAINST FROSTBITE

Standing in the shadow of the giant tanks, Kjetil Kvamme,36, pulls the zip of his down jacket up to his chin. He wasborn in Hammerfest. As a student he went to university in

THE RESCUE TEAM IN TRAINING FOR AN EMERGENCY.THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

SAFETY MANAGER KJETIL KVAMME: “HAMMERFEST IS AN IDEAL PLACE FOR FAMILIES.”

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sides, and in winter the children go ice fishing or sledding.The Kvammes recently built themselves a house with floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a magnificent view of thebay. “This place is ideal,” says Grete Kvamme, “apart fromthe darkness in the winter months.” From November to Jan-uary the people of Hammerfest don’t see the sun. Only thegas flare on Melkøya island casts a comforting light. //

flying home to their families in southern Scandinavia. It’s a life lived between two worlds. But for many ofthem the lengthy commute may soon come to an end, asHammerfest is quite evidently growing in attraction as a place to live. “When the plant was built, we had 9,000 inhabitants,” says mayor Alf Jakobsen. “Now there are already 10,000.” Restaurants, hotels, shops, taxi firms: Everyjob on Melkøya means more than one new job on themainland. What’s more, Statoil is paying the equivalent of around 20 million euros into the town’s coffers in prop-erty tax. The community has already invested in a newschool and a new kindergarten. The last fish factory downby the quayside has been replaced by the “House of Culture” — an imposing glass structure with a cinema, theater, music and art school. The streets are currently being dug up to make way for new water pipes. Mayor Jakobsen’s next project is to heat the sidewalks.

A LIFE BETWEEN REINDEER AND GAS PLANT

The little town is becoming increasingly attractive. EirihnKeüer, who was born in Hammerfest and grew up there,has a story to tell. As a 17-year-old she won a scholarship to train as a dancer in St. Petersburg. “I just had to get outof here,” she says. Ten years later, in 2009, she received an offer from mayor Jakobsen to come back and run a danceschool in the newly inaugurated House of Culture. She accepted. “To start with I had 15 students,” she recalls. “Nowthere are 150.” Unlike dance teacher Eirihn, BIS managerKjetil Kvamme always knew that he would come backhome after leaving university. “On the other hand, I wasworried whether my wife would be happy here.” When they first visited Hammerfest together, it seemed un-likely: “It was the middle of winter, the snow was piled roof-high in the streets, and then the car broke down,”Kjetil remembers.

Now, twelve years later, his wife Grete could not imag-ine a better home for her family of five. The kindergarten,school, office — most everything is just a stone’s throwaway. In summer reindeer sun themselves on the road-

A HAVEN IN THE COLD AND DARK: FROM NOVEMBER TO JANUARY THE PEOPLE OF HAMMERFEST NEVER SEE THE SUN RISE.

AS A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD, DANCER EIRIHN KEÜER SOUGHT GREENERPASTURES. NOW SHE IS BACK TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION.

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/// Twenty years ago the local daily paper “Sydsvenskan”launched a campaign to instill a sense of self-confidencein the people of Malmö. In the city with a high proportionof foreign residents, the paper had T-shirts printed with themessage: “If you’ve seen Malmö, you’ve seen the world.” Asecond batch of T-shirts promptly appeared in the neigh-boring university town of Lund bearing the derisive reply:“If you’ve seen Lund, you don’t have to see Malmö.” A triv-ial incident, but one that shows how Swedes used to feelabout the city. Lund is learned, Gothenburg means busi-ness and Stockholm is stately, whereas Malmö was alwaysthe proletarian parvenu. In the early sixties the Kockumsshipyard launched a new ship every month, but by the sev-enties the industry was in terminal decline: the parvenuwas reduced to a problem.

SELF-ASSURED CITY OF CULTURE

No one scoffs at Malmö anymore. The days of factory clo-sures and high unemployment are gone. The city radiatesself-confidence: In the past fifteen years it has undergone

YOUNG MALMÖ

MALMÖ WAS LONG REGARDED AS AN UGLYDUCKLING. NOW SWEDEN’S THIRD LARGESTCITY HAS REINVENTED ITSELF.

C L E M E N S B O M S D O R F / T E X T / / / U F F E W E N G / P H OTO S

LUND

MALMÖ

COPENHAGEN

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HUNDREDS OF COMMUTERS PARK THEIR BICYCLES AT MALMÖ’S IDYLLICALLY SITED TRAIN STATION ON

THEIR WAY TO WORK THROUGH THE NEW CITY TUNNEL.

TRELLEBORG

ÖRESU

ND

CITY TUNNELÖRESUND BRIGDE

DENMARK

SWEDENGOTHENBURG

STOCKHOLM

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VIDEO INSTALLATION IN THE METROPassengers waiting at the new metro stop beneath Malmö’s mainstation gaze at the vast Siberian steppes, lose themselves in thejungles of the Orinoco or share the close confines of an African shanty town: Artist Tania Ruiz Gutierrez has gathered video imagesfrom every continent. The projection screens have rounded cornerslike train windows, and an endless procession of images from the far reaches of the earth pass by: In the metro, Malmö is the center of the world.

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MUCH HAS CHANGED IN THE WESTThe Western Harbor was an industrial wasteland until it was revitalized. “We didn’t want to build just another sleepy suburb, we wanted to recreate the dynamism of the inner city,” says the now retiredcity planner Hans Olsson. Besides the Turning Torso, a series of mainly small houses designed by various architects were built: “That’s why there is no monot -ony here.”

with the initial influx of 5,000 students. There are now23,000 young people studying at the university.

The millennium saw the opening of the Öresund Bridgewhich was to become a major factor in Malmö’s future. Commuting to nearby Copenhagen had previously meant atiresome journey by ferry across the intervening waterway.But the bridge brought Denmark and Sweden closer togeth-er. The comparatively low rents on the Swedish side attract-ed Danish families and Malmö’s rejuvenation continued.

In 2001 the international housing exhibition Bo01 kick-started the revitalization of the Västra Hamnen, or

a process of change from which other European cities withaging industries could learn a thing or two. Malmö hasshed its working class image and blossomed into a post-industrial university, services and cultural hub full of life and dynamism. Once the city fathers realized in thenineties that Malmö’s industrial days were gone for good,they set about developing new infrastructure to promotethe service sector, culture and education. The reawakeningacquired a visible dimension in 1998 when Malmö openedthe doors to its university and the cityscape was reshaped

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MODERNA MUSEETOne of Malmö’s best-known architecturalinnovations is the offshoot of the Stock-holm Moderna Museet, opened at the endof 2009 in a former gasworks. DirectorMagnus Jensner brings exhibitions fea -turing leading international artists such as the Belgian painter Luc Tuymans and

revolutionary ready-made artist MarcelDuchamp to the city. Jensner sees his mu-seum as a sign of Malmö’s emancipation:“We want the city to move forward,” saysthe museum director. “Our aim is to at-tract visitors not just from Lund or Copen-hagen, but from Germany too.”

Western Harbor. On the site of the former Kockums shipyard, internationally renowned architects began tocreate prestige projects. Among them was Malmö’snewest landmark, the “Turning Torso” by Spanish architectSantiago Calatrava. The 190-meter apartment buildingwith its twisting facade clad in white aluminum is Swe-den’s tallest building, a “symbol of our city’s reawakening,”says Hans Olsson. As a city planner, Olsson played a majorrole in the Western Harbor development. Now retired, heconducts tourists around the prestigious district. These

days, colorful lunchhour crowds gather on the WesternHarbor promenade: students from the nearby universityinstitutes, IT experts from the newly arrived software com-panies, and pensioners who can afford an apartment herewith a view across the water. Tankers and container vesselsply the waterway while the majestic Öresund Bridge —almost eight kilometers in length with its huge pylons andsteel cables stretched like the strings of a harp — reachesout towards Copenhagen. At peak times, trains shuttleacross the bridge to Malmö every ten minutes. They enter

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the new City Tunnel and travel underground across the cityto the main station. The city’s public transportation systemis accessible from the new train route via two additionalunderground stations. With the opening of the tunnel,which Bilfinger Berger played a key role in building, the city centers of Malmö and Copenhagen are now just 30 mi -nutes apart. Twenty thousand commuters cross the Öresundevery day, a number that is forecast to nearly double with-in the next ten years. Malmö and Copenhagen are increas-ingly growing together into a single metropolitan area.

Malmö itself is also growing steadily — by almost sevenpercent in 2010 alone — and is rejuvenating itself in theprocess. Most newcomers are under thirty and the birthrate is high. A record five thousand children were born herelast year. Just recently Malmö’s population topped the300,000 mark. Its citizens celebrated the fact in March 2011with a huge party in the Stortoget, the central square in theOld Town. Many of the guests were children, and the daywas celebrated not with free beer, but with balloons andlots of chocolate cake. //

MÖLLEVÅNGEN’S COLORFUL MIX“There was a time when anyone who could afford it

moved out of Möllevången,” recalls journalist JuliaSvensson, who writes about urban planning and city life for the regional paper “Sydsvenskan.” “Then immi-grant families and students discovered the large, cheap apartments and brought the district to life.” Sud-denly the city quarter with its cafés, Turkish green -grocers, Arab snack bars and shops selling exotic waresbegan to appeal to young high earners. The “Kaffeba-ren” bar is one of Julia Svensson’s favorite hangouts:There is a constant hustle and bustle of people speak -ing Arabic and English as well as Swedish.

BI LFI NGER BERGER I N MALMÖ AN D STOCKHOLM

UNDERGROUND IN SWEDENMalmö is one of the principal rail transporthubs in Northern Europe. That’s one of thereasons why Malmö’s end station was re-developed and now functions as a transitstation. A central feature of this huge infra-structure project is the 17-kilometer longCity Tunnel, which entered service at theend of 2010. Bilfinger Berger was responsi-ble for construction of the main section. Aspart of a contract valued at €350 million,the company built two parallel tunnel tubes, each 4.6 kilometers in length. Thetubes are connected by 13 cross-tunnels toaid evacuation in the event of an emergen-cy. In addition, Bilfinger Berger hollowedout the cavern for the Triangeln under-ground station.

Bilfinger Berger is also involved in othermajor public transportation projects inSweden. In Stockholm, the company is help -ing to build the “Citybanan,” a six-kilome-ter rail tunnel that crosses right throughthe inner city. In the past, rapid transit com-muter trains have shared the same track asregional and freight trains. Now with theCitybanan they will have a line of their ownwhich will significantly increase capacities.When the tunnel opens in 2017, delays tocommuter traffic will be a thing of thepast. In a €105 million project, Bilfinger Ber-ger’s tunnel builders are currently blastingthrough the granite below the north endof the city to form a 1,200-meter section ofthe Vasa Tunnel. The company is also build -

ing the 700-meter long cavern for a station beneath the existing “Odenplan”subway stop, one of Stockholm’s busiest stations. At the southern end of the Citybanan, the company is building another 300-meter long tunnel, this timeusing the open cut method. The tunnel winds through an old town district withprotected historical buildings that must be carefully secured.

The development of the motorway ring to the north of Stockholm’s inner city is another project in which Bilfinger Berger is involved. Here, the companyis carrying out technically sophisticated tunneling works at a cost of around€200 million. The geology presents some particular challenges since the tubespass through loose rock laid down by glaciers during the Ice Age. The work isscheduled for completion in 2015. (si)

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/// In the morning every minute counts. 6.30:Emilia Thingbo is in the living room putting onher makeup while her two-year-old daughterSophia is busy painting next to her and daddyis still in the shower. 6.50: Emilia butters breadwhile Georg feeds Sophia. 7.10: Georg dresseshis daughter. Emilia packs Sophia’s bag forkindergarten. 7.25: Father and daughter do bat-tle with Sophias snowsuit. Mother Emilia isready in high-heeled boots and elegant coat.Mornings for the Thingbo family are plannedto the last detail. At precisely half past sevenEmilia kisses her daughter: “Bye, see you thisevening.” Then she’s off to the office while herhusband drops Sophia off at the kindergarten on his way to work. It will be nine hours laterbefore they all see one another again.

A normal routine for a Norwegian family.The exception in Germany is the rule in Scan-

E VA WO L FA N G E L / T E X T / / / A N TO N I A Z E N N A R O / P H OTO S

(WO)MENAT WORK

EMILIA THINGBO AND KIRSTI GERHARDSEN ARE MOTHERS AND CAREERWOMEN. NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN NORWAY, WHERE THE WORK CULTURE IS FAMILY-FRIENDLY AND FATHERS HAVE A MOREMODERN OUTLOOK THAN ELSEWHERE.

dinavia: young mothers work full time, whilefathers lend a hand at home as a matter ofcourse. The number of women in managementpositions is now among the highest in Europesince a quota system was introduced in 2008.More than 40 percent of supervisory boardmembers at major companies are women, andat the same time Norway has one of the high-est birth rates in Europe, averaging 1.78 chil-dren for every woman.

The balancing act between family and ca-reer works thanks to modern role models and

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EMILIA THINGBO: “I NEVER CONSIDERED A LIFE AS A HOUSEWIFE.”

VIDEO CONFERENCING WITH SOPHIA’S HELP: THE CUSTOMERS DON’T MIND.

well organized publicly funded child care.Every child from the age of one is legally enti-tled to a place in a day care center — and that’snot just on paper. In 2008 some 87 percent of all children aged between one and five attend-ed day care or kindergarten. Whereas in Ger-many there are nursery schools available forfewer than 30 percent of under-threes, andthese facilities are frequently only open untilearly afternoon; in Norway care is more or lesscomprehensive.

TREND TOWARDS LARGE FAMILIES

Little Sophia has been going to nursery schoolall day since she was ten months old. Hermother Emilia took the opportunity of her one-year state-financed maternity leave to writeher master’s dissertation in safety manage-ment. When Sophia was a year old, Emilia

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went back to work as a Health, Safety and Environment Advisor with her employer BIS Industrier, a Norwegian subsidiary of BilfingerBerger. Like most Norwegian women she nev-er considered a life as a housewife, even ifmanaging children and a career is a challenge.With young families in the neighborhoodhaving three or even four children, she can see that for herself: “A woman who has fourchildren and goes to work must be a strongwoman.”

FLEXIBLE EMPLOYERS

The men also have to be strong. When Emiliabecame pregnant, Georg quit his job andwent looking for another. “In those days I wasworking 60 or 70 hours a week,” he says, “Icouldn’t imagine keeping that up with a fam-ily.” Now he works for a supplier of video con-ferencing systems and is home by 4.00 pm.Sometimes, when working extra hours, he hasSophia on his lap while talking to customers —by video conference. He has never been criti-cized for doing so: “Children are part of life.” If Sophia is sick, he and his wife take turns staying home. Each parent can take ten dayspaid leave a year for such eventualities; thestate pays the costs.

Shortly after Emilia arrives at BIS Industri-er, she is followed into the building inSandnes, near Stavanger, by her boss. KirstiGerhardsen scarcely has time to enter theopen-plan office before she is besieged by col-leagues asking questions. As head of “Health,Safety, Environment and Quality,” she is awoman in demand: One department is beingaudited and needs support, some branchmanagers have convened in Sandnes for ameeting and want to take the opportunity for

a chat with her, a journalist wants to knowmore about the “Moms” campaign that Kirstihas developed (see page 28).

Kirsti nevertheless radiates calm and com-posure. She has now been putting her organi-zational skills to the test for the past threehours. Up at 5.30, shower, dress and makebreakfast. Wake the kids at 6.15, help them getdressed, eat breakfast, make sandwiches,drive sons Brage, 6, and Aksel, 9, to school anddrop three-year-old Lykke off at kindergarten,then off to work in rush hour traffic. Not muchsleep and a meticulous family schedule are theprice she pays for children and a career. Whenshe applied for her management post fiveyears ago, her second son was just one year oldand she was in her early 30’s. “During the in-terview my future boss and I talked about ourfamilies. Almost all of us on the managementfloor have children.”

In Germany, the first questions would havebeen: “If you work, who looks after the kids?What happens if they’re sick?” But Kirsti’s fu-ture boss offered the prospect of flexibleworking hours and the chance to work fromhome. Nor was it a problem that Kirsti want-ed to finish by 4.00 most afternoons. If thereis a parents’ meeting at school or the kinder-garten puts on a show during working hours,Kirsti naturally attends. It only works for onereason: “It’s because of the deep feeling of mutual trust that everyone will do his or herjob,” Kirsti explains. She herself has noticedhow mothers are often particularly efficient at work because they are used to making themost of very little time.

ENGINEER WITH A HALF-DAY JOB

At 1.00 her husband, Johnny Gerhardsen, is wait-ing outside the school with the minibus. Akseland Brage come running with a horde of chil-dren and bag the best seats in the bus. There’sroom for all their friends, because this is theneighborhood after-school run. Johnny loves hisjob as a civil engineer, but for now he is onlyworking half days. In Norway every child of ele-mentary school age is entitled to afterschoolcare, but Aksel didn’t want to go. “So Kirsti andI thought maybe one of us should work fewerhours for a while,” Johnny explains, “and I liked

the idea.” He needn’t fear that he is gamblingwith his next promotion. After school, Johnnyhelps the boys with their homework, cooks din-ner and fetches daughter Lykke from kinder-garten. When Kirsti comes home at around 4.30, the washing machine is humming andfood is on the stove. Thanks to a family-friendlywork culture, the whole family sits down to eattogether at 5.00.

FAMILY TIME IS IN SHORT SUPPLY

Somehow there still isn’t enough time, Emiliafinds. After dinner she sits on the rim of thebathtub while Sophia splashes in the waterand Georg lays out a fresh towel. “We just don’thave enough time for each other,” says Emilia.The few hours between work and Sophia’s bed-time are almost all taken up with cooking and

26 \\ EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

eating. When she fetches her daughter fromkindergarten, she reads off from a list whenthe toddler had her diaper changed and howlong she slept in the afternoon. Now and againthere are meetings with the nursery schoolstaff who tell the parents what their childrenhave been doing all day. Sometimes Emiliafeels a pang that she is not there for herdaughter. Which is why for the time being she doesn’t want a second child. “Maybe in afew years,” she says, “but for now we want tospend all our energy on Sophia.” Despite excel-lent child care, modern fathers, family-friend-ly working hours, combining a family and afull-time job comes at a price.

While Sophia is still in the bath, a few kilo-meters away little Lykke, just one year older, isasleep on the sofa. While they were cooking,she sat on the counter and told her daddyabout her day. But after dinner her eyes grewheavy, the long day at the kindergarten wastiring. Johnny puts her to bed, then settles infront of the fire with the newspaper. The fireradiates contentment. The dishwasher is run-ning. Kirsti sits at the kitchen table and opensher laptop. //

A WOMAN IN DEMAND: KIRSTI GERHARDSEN AT WORK.

SCANDINAVIANS LIKE A HOT MEAL IN THE EVENING: EVERYONE JOINS IN THE COOKING.

THREE-YEAR-OLD LYKKE CARIES HER OWN PAIL. IN IT ARE SANDWICHES AND FRUIT FOR HER DAY AT KINDERGARTEN.

(WO)MEN AT WORK

www.magazine.bilfinger.com

// 2928 \\ HEALTH AND SAFETY Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

/// Mothers’ smiles shine from the walls wherever Bilfinger Berger’s Norwegian subsidiary BIS Industrier is at work. In dozens of workshops, factories, refineries, industrial buildings and offshore installations, they lookdown benevolently from their gilded frames. The portraitsare part of a health and safety campaign developed by Kirsti Gerhardsen. The accompanying brochures say it all: “Think carefully about everything that could hap-pen. Love, Mom.” Safety manager Kirsti Gerhardsen has

traveled as far as Paris to present her campaign: “We don’t use models, these are our employees’ mothers. That really hits home.”

Gerhardsen had photos taken of fifteen women at home on their sofas or at the dining room table. Noth-ing has been touched up: “Mothers are friendly, butthey’re firm. They care,” she explains. “That’s the messagewe want to get across: Take your work seriously and pay attention!” //

MAMA’S BOYS BECAUSE MEN PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT THEIR MOTHERS SAY,LIFE-SIZE PHOTOS DECORATE THE WORKPLACE WALLS AT BILFINGER BERGER IN NORWAY.

B E R N D H AU S E R / T E X T / / / A N TO N I A Z E N N A R O, B I S I N D U ST R I E R / P H OTO S

// 3130 \\ SPACE TRAVEL Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

To SPACEAND BACKTWO DANES WANT TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT OUTER SPACE, SO THEY’REBUILDING A ROCKET — WITH MATERIALS FROM THE DO-IT-YOURSELF STORE.

P H I L I P P M AU S S H A R DT / T E X T / / / U F F E W E N G / P H OTO S

/// The taxi driver is getting suspicious: “Youwant to go in there?” We’re standing at the entrance to an abandoned site borderingCopenhagen’s harbor, the wind is banging a metal gate against a crooked fence post,grass and hazel bushes are sprouting from the asphalt. At the end of the street is a rusty corrugated iron shed. There’s not a soulto be seen. This is not what space stations are supposed to look like.

What may well be one of the craziest flyingmachines ever is taking shape just 15 minutesfrom Copenhagen’s city center: An architectand an engineer want to send a manned rocket into space. That would make tiny Denmark the fourth nation to launch amanned space flight, after Russia, the USAand China.

ARE THEY SERIOUS?

The doors to the shed are open. “Hello, is anyone there?” — “I am here.” A friendly facetopped by a bald head appears from behind a machine as big as he is. As if to make us even more doubtful about the seriousnessof his mission, Kristian von Bengtson lights a cigarette: “Rocket” brand. Welcome to Den-mark’s space center.

Kristian von Bengtson, 37, recognizes thelook of pity tinged with amazement when visitors enter the shed for the first time. Heknows what they are thinking: They can’t be serious ... can they? They can. Von Bengtsonand his partner Peter Madsen, 40, are very serious. “In three years time it’ll fly, and one ofus will be inside,” says von Bengtson, pointingto the bright red, jacked up rocket capsule.

A PROJECT LIKE A MARRIAGE

It’s named after the only Dane to be popular-ly known for his preoccupation with space, and that was more than 400 years ago. Tycho Brahe, a contemporary of Johannes Kepler, invented devices with which to measure themovements of the stars. This summer the “Tycho Brahe 1” is due to come some 30 kilo -meters closer to the stars. That’s how high the rocket is scheduled to fly when it is testedwith a dummy on board.

// 33

IT’S COLD IN THE SPACE CENTER. THE ONLY HEATING IS INTHE SMALL OFFICE. THAT’S WHERE THE PIONEERS GO TOWARM UP — AND CONCOCT TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS.

WELCOME TO DENMARK’S SPACE CENTER!

A MAN WHO CAN GO DOWN, CAN ALSO GO UP: THE HOMEMADE SUBMARINE NAUTILUS.

THE COPENHAGEN BUILDERS ARE NOT SHORT OF ROCKET MODELS.

from freezing shut. It could have been a mo-ment for mockery. But instead, former NASA colleagues called to congratulate the pair. “It wasa success,” von Bengtson interprets the expe -rience, “because we discovered a design fault that we can eliminate before the next test.”

The office is decorated with photos of rocket pioneers of the last hundred years. Amongthem is the Russian Konstantin Ziolkowski whowas the first to speculate about the possibilitiesof thrust fueled by liquid oxygen or hydrogen.Rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, too, smiles

Architect von Bengtson worked for severalyears for the American space agency NASA, developing spacecraft interiors. Four yearsago he heard about Peter Madsen, an inventorworking in Copenhagen harbor who had justbuilt his third submarine: The 18-meter long“UC3 Nautilus” is the world’s largest privatelybuilt underwater craft. If he can go down, hecan probably go up, thought von Bengtson. He and Madsen immediately hit it off. In the intervening years the two have spent moretime with one another than with their wives,children or friends. “A project like this is like a marriage,” says von Bengtson. The division of labor goes like this: Madsen is responsible for the propulsion, von Bengtson for the passenger area. The first six meters of the rocket containing the combustion chamber, in-let valve and liquefied gas tank are Madsen’s,the top three meters are von Bengtson’s work-place. On this early spring day, temperatures in the tin shed are not much above zero. Theonly place where von Bengtson can warm upis in the small office, before zipping up histhick overalls and going back to work on thetrapdoors. These are designed to release fourparachutes, allowing the astronaut to floatsafely back to earth. “The earth will look like ablue ball,” says von Bengtson, “it’s going to bea tremendous feeling.”

SUPPORTED BY THE NAVY

Since October 2008 the two companions havecarried out thirty-three ground trials in order to find the right fuel and test the heat resis-tance of their materials. Last September therocket was due to lift off for the first time with a dummy on board. Madsen’s submarinetowed the launch platform outside the twelvemile limit off Bornholm, where there are no national laws governing the launch of space vehicles. The Danish navy helped by cordoningoff a wide area of the sea. “Three, two, one, zero.” Von Bengtson pressed the button — andnothing happened. The fuel, a mixture of liq uidoxygen and polyurethane chilled to minus 185 degrees Celsius, refused to ignite. A subse-quent analysis revealed that a battery wasdead. It was supposed to power a hairdryerwhich was needed to prevent a crucial valve

32 \\ SPACE TRAVEL Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

// 35

down from the wall: In 1929 he planned a two-meter long rocket that was supposed to reach aheight of 40 kilometers. It was a time whenspace travel was a utopian dream, and even Albert Einstein attended the premiere of FritzLang’s film “Woman in the Moon.” But it was tobe 1961 before Yuri Gagarin became the first manin space. He took off in his spacecraft Vostok 1, re-turning alive and well 108 minutes later after or-biting the earth once at a height of around 200kilometers.

DANES SHARE THE EXCITEMENT

Every time the space shuttle has launched, the cost to NASA has been in the order of 250 million USD. By comparison, costs incurredby the Copenhagen space travelers have beentiny. Their budget for this year through to the planned launch in June is just € 37,000. Most of the money is donated by people whosee Madsen and von Bengtson as stand-ins for their own dream fulfillment. So far 1,700have contributed. In particular “Ingeniøren,”Denmark’s weekly paper for the technicallyminded, arranges fundraising presentationsand regularly reports on the project. As a result,Peter Madsen has frequently received usefultips from aircraft mechanics and builders ofcatamarans.

ANYONE CAN DO SPACE FLIGHT

It wouldn’t be too difficult for the amateur astronauts to make more money from theiridea. “Red Bull asked us if they could use the rocket for their advertising,” says vonBengtson. “But we prefer to be independent.We want to show that fundamentally, spaceflight is something anyone can do.” That’s whythere are no secrets at the Copenhagen rocketfactory: The cork mats that provide insulationcome from the do-it-yourself store, as do thestandard stainless sheets used in the rocketpropulsion system. Anyone who is interestedcan watch the two at work. Students from the Technical University often come and help. Another two or three years, von Bengtson es-timates, and Tycho Brahe will be fully testedand ready for its first manned flight. He’ll letMadsen be the first Danish astronaut: “Hedoesn’t have children.”

MORE:www.copenhagensuborbitals.com

First of all, however, the next unmannedlaunch is scheduled for mid-June, somewherein the Baltic Sea. The problem with thehairdryer has been fixed. The heating systemfor the valve through which the liquid oxygenpasses at minus 183 degrees Celsius has beenimproved, and a more powerful battery willsafeguard the power supply. //

NOT JUST FOR DUMMIES: “IN THREE YEARS ONE OF US WILL BE ON BOARD.”

THE FIRST LAUNCH TRIAL IN THE BALTIC WENT WRONG — BECAUSE THE HAIRDRYER FAILED.

Phot

o: Je

v O

lsen

34 \\ SPACE TRAVEL Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

// 3736 \\ FEEDING THE WORLD Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

/// Three years ago you opened the Svalbard Global SeedVault. One day there will be 4.5 million seed samples fromaround the world stored in this arctic bunker. Why makesuch a tremendous effort?It’s necessary because the challenges facing mankind arehuge. In recent decades, crop diversity has declined rap-idly. Thousands of varieties of wheat, rice, even applesthat our ancestors had cultivated since the Neolithic peri-od have virtually died out. They exist only as seed samplesin gene banks.What is behind this decline?Modern agriculture. There is no question that efficientmonocultures and high-yield varieties are agriculturalsuccess stories. But that is precisely where the danger lies:We are cultivating only a handful of super-species thatdeliver the best yield under today’s conditions — and werisk losing all the other varieties.Where is the problem? There has always been significantfluctuation on the evolutionary stage.

MORE AND MORE PLANT SPECIES ONCE GROWN AS CROPS AREDISAPPEARING. MANKIND COULD BE ILL-EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITHTHE CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE WITH THE FEW THATREMAIN. CARY FOWLER, HEAD OF THE GLOBAL CROP DIVERSITYTRUST, IS COLLECTING THE SEEDS THAT ARE LEFT AND STORINGTHEM IN A VAULT ON THE ISLAND OF SPITSBERGEN.

Darwin was right. Evolution ensures the survival of thosespecies that are best suited to their environment. When it comes to crops, however, it is not a matter of natural selection. It is humans who decide which species shouldsurvive. And now humans must ensure that the gene pooldoes not become too small. Evolution is the interactionbetween diversity and selection. Without diversity, thegame is over.You are warning that we may have to fall back on this seedsooner than we may imagine. Indeed. Many of the varieties that have almost disap-peared could soon be very important to us. Perhaps be-cause of their heat tolerance, or for some other quality we

THEUNITEDSEEDS

BEANS FROM COLUMBIA ARE ALSO AMONG THE TREASURES THATCOULD SECURE THE WORLD’S FOOD SUPPLY IN THE FUTURE.

CARY FOWLER: “WE HAVE CREATED SOMETHING THAT WILL LASTFOR AN ETERNITY.”

THE SEED VAULT LIES UNDERGROUND IN THE PERMAFROST.ONLY THE ENTRANCE IS VISIBLE FROM THE SURFACE.

M A R KU S WA N Z E C K / T E X T / / / M A R I T E F R E - G LO BA L C R O P D I V E R S I T Y T R U ST,SVA L BA R D G LO BA L S E E D VAU LT / P H OTO S

// 39

are not even aware of at present. The commonly cultivated varieties ofrice, for example, unfold their blossoms more or less punctually at 11 o’clock in the morning — when the hottest time of day begins. Butthere are some varieties of wild rice that open at 4 o’clock in the after-noon or 11 o’clock at night. These varieties have a biological clock thatallows them to avoid the heat. That could potentially be the key to oursurvival one day.How so?Remember the heat wave of 2003? The harvests that year fell by up to25 percent! The worrying thing is, if you consider 2003 in the light ofthe forecast for 2°C global warming, it appears to be a relatively mod-erate year. We will be experiencing much hotter years in future. And

we know that today’s crops are not equipped to cope with that. A backup copy of our agricultural diversity is the best life insurancepolicy we could possibly have.For that to work, it is not just a matter of storing the millions of seeds,but of knowing what they are good for.That’s right. Conservation is one thing. Making use of this genetictreasure trove is quite another. That is a matter for the seed banks.Their scientists must experiment with the seeds that exist to discoverwhat benefits they might offer. There are hundreds of banks world-wide, and they will be busy for many generations to come.Why then the Seed Vault? The seed banks have their own stocks.True, the Seed Vault is just another storeroom. But it is the world’s

most secure storeroom: A tunnel almost 120 meters in length, chilled to – 18°C and sealed with several steel doors. Outside there are polar bears. If the power should ever fail, the temperature of the vault would still never exceed -3°C due to the permafrost. Everygene bank in the world is invited to archive backup copies of its seed stocks in the vault, free of charge. There is strong demand, because the banks in the USA, Germany and above all in develop-ing countries are aware that their treasures could go up in flames at any time, or be destroyed in an earthquake, or — as happened earlythis year in Egypt — be looted. If that were to happen, it would be like destroying a Picasso or a Van Gogh: a final, inestimable loss.How full is the refrigerator now?We have archived over 600,000 seed samples. I will be traveling to Spitsbergen next week to receive another 30,000 samples, deliver-ies from Syria, India and Colombia. The first shipment from Australia is coming too.Even the biggest refrigerator cannot freeze time. How do you intend to make sure the seeds you are storing will still be usable in a thousand years?In the past sixty or seventy years we have amassed a great deal of knowledge about deep-freezing seeds. We know approx-imately how long most varieties will keep under these conditions. In addition, every few decades the samples will be tested by their gene banks. If only a certain percentage of the seeds germinate, this variety will be cultivated in order to produce fresh seeds. It would be a misunderstanding to assume that we could simply ship seeds from all the world to Spitsbergen, close the door and come back a thousand years later. We must keep a constant eye on the samples and replace them as necessary. The vault is like a living being. There is constant movement, a kind of metabolism.

How much does this backup system cost?The cost of designing and building the vault came to USD 9 million, all of which was paid by the Norwegian government. The operatingcosts of the vault, transportation and the work of the gene banks are in the low double-digit millions. These costs are covered mainly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Once the vault is full, the costs will decline substantially. Sorghum millet seeds, for example, only have to be replaced every 20,000 years. That is a man-ageable expense.The timescale you have to employ to think about this project is mind-boggling for an outsider.Not only for outsiders. The Seed Vault is something that transcendsday-to-day problems. I can barely describe to you how it feels to godown into the tunnel.Could you try?Well… the feeling far exceeds the moment when after years of long,hard work I was presented with my doctorate. It’s a heady sen-sation to become a doctor — at least for a short while. But the nextmorning you wake up and think, so what? It soon passes. But the Seed Vault is something entirely different. Through long, hardwork we have created something which — measured by human standards — will last for an eternity. Believe me, down there in the cold, in the neon-lit vault, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life.You sound as though you have a very emotional relationship with your work.I do indeed! I love my work. So much so, that I don’t need an alarm clock to wake up on time each morning.You mean, you wake up each day at the same time? Like a rice plant?Even better: sometimes I wake up earlier, sometimes later. Dependingon what’s happening each day. //

A 120-METER LONG TUNNEL LEADS TO THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS WHERE THESEEDS ARE STORED AT TEMPERATURES OF MINUS 18 DEGREES CELSIUS. (BELOW)

ABOUT 600,000 VARIETIES OF SEED ARE STORED ON THE SHELVES. SOME OFTHEM CAN REMAIN FERTILE FOR 20,000 YEARS.

38 \\ FEEDING THE WORLD Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

// 4140 \\ ARCHITECTURE Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

THE JUVET LANDSCAPE HOTEL HAS REINVENTED THE TRADITIONAL NORWEGIAN CABIN. ARCHITECTURE TAKES A BACKSEAT TO THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: EXPERIENCING NATURE.

B E R N D H AU S E R / T E X T / / / K N U T S L I N N I N G , J E N S E N & S KO DV I N / P H OTO S

ROOMENOUGH IN THE SMALLESTHYTTE

// 4342 \\ ARCHITECTURE Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

/// The roaring Valldøla River is a merestone’s throw from the pane of glass. Whitewith rage, the river has been gnawing away atthe gneiss for thousands of years, carving outa craggy gorge, creating a sight that is hard to look away from. On the slope, directly out-side the window, birches and pines cling tomassive boulders. Here and there, lush mosshides the grey nakedness of the rocks which,owing to the randomness of where they lay,seem to have been tossed in annoyance fromthe shoulders of Alstadfjellet Mountain. Nowthey lie here like dice once played with by giants. Behind the river, the mountain steeplyrises like a wall; its flat, snow-covered peakplays host to any number of skiers, even in August. This is the view that holds guests captive at the Juvet Landscape Hotel. The hotel is located above the village Valldal on the Norddalsfjord. In other words: far from itall — a place with no special attractions. Withthe exception of one: the landscape. Which iswhy hotel owner Knut Slinning also likes to callhis lodging a “landscape hotel.”

OUTSIDE IS INSIDE

Knut Slinning, a wiry, unshaven 59-year-old,was formerly a teacher of business administra-tion. Today, he can occasionally be seen atop the Alstadfjellet with his shotgun, hunting forsnow grouse. Two quotes accompany himthrough life, he relates, and both aptly apply tohis hotel project. One of them comes fromGoethe’s “Treasure Hunter,” which he was intro-duced to during his schooldays: “Daily work!Evening guests! Hard weeks! Joyous feasts! Letthese then be your future magic words.” Theother one is from Pippi Longstocking: “We’venever tried it, so it should work out.” The hotel,which was opened in 2010, consists of free-standing, individual bungalows that can bereached from paths of crunching gravel. Thepinewood used for the facade has been treatedwith iron vitriol, which speeds up its greying,

helping the brand new buildings blend in withthe trunks of the birches and the pieces of timber that have fallen to the ground. The bungalows look as if they have been hap-hazardly scattered among the rocks and thetrees — in reality, however, the position of eachand every dwelling was chosen with extremecare. The glass facades provide an exciting viewof the gorge or river, or of a more contemplativeview of moss-covered, rocky terrain. Moreover,no bungalow disturbs another through itspresence: they have all been situated in such a way as to give every guest the feeling that the natural surroundings are there for them —and for them alone.

THE WONDERS OF NATURE BEAM THROUGH THE WINDOWS AS IF ON A STAGE.THE LANDSCAPE SURROUNDING THE HOTEL IS A PLAYGROUND FULL OF ADVENTURE.

HOTEL OWNER KNUT SLINNING: “WE’VE NEVER TRIED IT, SO IT SHOULD WORK OUT.”

// 4544 \\ ARCHITECTURE Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

But do people really want to live in dark caves,especially in the far North? “At its best, architec-ture is poetry,” explains architect Jan OlavJensen. “We didn’t want to half-heartedlyachieve our goal — namely, to fully expose ourguests to nature — thus we needed darkwalls.” The natural surroundings shine bril -liantly, as if on a stage. Every hour, everyminute, the atmosphere changes, according tothe time of day and clouds. Even though thebungalows are only around 30 square meters,guests do not feel confined: the glass facadesprovide a feeling of space, light and air.

NOBLE HUTS

“We’re aiming to address a special targetgroup: poor on time and rich on cash,” says hotelier Slinning. A bungalow costs around €300 per night. Eminent lifestyle magazines,like Wallpaper, have written about the concept;“Le Figaro” and “The Times” also paid a visit.The Norwegians themselves have also wel-comed the concept, as the veneration of natureis an integral part of the national identity.More than half of all Norwegians have theirown “Hytte” where they spend weekends andholidays — preferably secluded, and withoutthe usual comforts. Fact is, though, more andmore Norwegians are building instead luxuri-ous second homes. Entire settlements of ho-mogenous, over sized blockhouses are poppingup, embodying the exact opposite of the orig-inal intention of communing alone with na-ture. The Juvet Landscape Hotel, however, is a reminder that exclusivity is not a questionof square meters: “There is room enough in the smallest hut for a happy, loving pair.” —as Friedrich Schiller knew. //

And when it comes to functionality, the moderncabins can hardly be surpassed: the double bedfits perfectly into its niche that opens up intothe living area. Those guests who wish to fallasleep to the rush of the Valldøla have simplyto open the sliding aperture in the wall, direct-ly behind the head of the bed. In contrast to theinterior of traditional Norwegian huts, thewood has not been left in its natural state. Theentire room has been painted in a color reminis-cent of ripe olives. The dark veneer gives guestsa feeling of being in a snug cave — or of beinginside a huge, old box camera, which alsoserves the purpose of transporting the outsideto the inside.

ALL GUESTS HAVE THEIR OWN PRIVATE STRETCH OF COUNTRYSIDE.THE BATHROOM WALL’S ARE SUNFLOWER YELLOW. THE SPA HAS BEEN BUILT INTO THE SLOPE AND CAN BARELY BE SEEN FROM OUTSIDE. A GRAVEL PATH LEADS TO THE CABINS WHOSE EXTERIOR IS RATHER UNIMPOSING.

PPower

i,cent of “the imaginings of a lunatic or somemorbid obsession.” His verdict left children unmoved.

In four years, 300,000 copies were sold in Sweden alone. The first German edition of “Pippi Langstrumpf” was published byOetinger in 1949 and was also greeted by manya wagging finger. The book lacked “healthychildren’s humor,” proclaimed a library com-mittee in Basel, Switzerland. “The basic ideaunderlying the book is too original and is re-pellent. As a result of all these inadequacies wedecidedly reject this famous Pippi book.”

Astrid Lindgren was familiar with the ten-dency of professional educators to be over-whelmed by Pippi’s anarchic persona. It wasonly after the original manuscript had beenheavily revised that the book was published inthe first place. Chamber pots were deletedfrom the story, and the wild goings-on with“bad Benno” and his comrades were toneddown. Each new translation met with newprejudice and raised new concerns. In Chinathere were problems because Pippi was toocheeky to a policeman. Her horse was too bigfor the French, and was reduced to a pony.Lindgren sardonically asked her French pub-lisher to send her a photo of a French child lift-ing up a pony in preference to a horse.

Pippi, however, triumphed over all adversi-ties. The book has now been translated intomore than sixty languages and has sold mil-lions of copies worldwide. In Afrikaans she is“Pippie Lankous,” in Brazil “Pippi Meialonga,”and in Kurdistan she is “Pippi Ya-Goredirey.”Search the online bookstores for “Pippi Long-stocking,” and you’ll find almost 1,400 titles.Besides the works of Astrid Lindgren, there aremanagement manuals, self-discovery guides

// 4746 \\ LITERATURE AND SOCIETY Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

P/// She has been an inspiration and, to thechagrin of many parents and educators, a role model. She has been admired for herstrength, her independence, and she has enchanted children and adults alike for overseventy years: Pippilotta Delicatessa Window-shade Mackrelmint Ephraims Daughter Long-stocking. “Tell me about Pippi Longstocking,”pleaded seven-year-old Karin, confined to bedin 1941 with pneumonia. “She made up thename on the spur of the moment,” her moth-er mused, years later. So Astrid Lindgren beganto tell the story.

Readers have an accident to thank for thefact that, some years later, the story of Pippi,the “remarkable child,” was committed to paper. Astrid Lindgren, who during the warworked for the Swedish mail censorship au-thority, slipped on an icy footpath andsprained her ankle. Unable to walk, she usedthe opportunity to write down Pippi’s adven-tures as a present for Karin on her tenth birthday.

It had never been Astrid’s intention to be-come an author, but having written the littlebook, she offered the manuscript to theSwedish publishing house Bonnier, hopingthat “they wouldn’t report me to the child wel-fare officer.” This wish was granted, but a re-quest to print the book was not. That was a de-cision they would soon regret.

A year later the manuscript was snappedup by children’s book publishers Rabén & Sjögren of Stockholm. The first edition pub-lished in 1945 quickly sold out. This did not stopa Stockholm professor of education from con-demning Pippi’s adventures as “futile” and“tasteless.” Acts such as walking barefoot onsugar and eating a whole cake were reminis-

and emancipation literature. Pippi Longstock-ing stands for creativity and drive, spontane-ity, courage and skepticism.

Pippi benefits the world — and benefitswomen. Take Benja Stig Fagerland, Danish, 40,a former model and mother of three. Today sheis a corporate consultant in Norway. Thecountry leads the world in equal opportuni-ties, and Benja Fagerland was one of the driv-ing forces. Ask her how she managed to push

P¡SEVENTY YEARS AGO ASTRID LINDGREN SAT BY HER SICK DAUGHTER’SBEDSIDE AND TOLD HER A TALE OF AN UNCOMMONLY STRONG ANDUNCOMMONLY CHEEKY LITTLE GIRL. PIPPI LONGSTOCKING REVOLU-TIONIZED CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – AND THE IMAGE OF WOMEN.

through the “womens quota,” and she replies,“Pippi Power!” — don’t be afraid to dare to doanything. “Power isn’t given to you,” she says,“you have to take it.” Astrid Lindgren also us-es the word power to characterize Pippi: “Pippi Longstocking is a little powerhouse, butshe never abuses her power. She only resorts toit when she is compelled to intervene. Other-wise she is the most good-natured, mosthelpful, nicest little girl you could imagine.And as far as I can tell, having power and notabusing it is the hardest thing there is.” //

PAU L L A M P E / T E X T / / / E D D I K R A F T / CO L L A G E

// 4948 \\ NEWS Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

OFFSHORE FOUN DATIONS

NORTH SEA WINDPARK DANTYSKTogether with Danish partner Per Aarsleff, Bilfinger Berger Civil has won an order to build the foundationsfor 80 offshore wind turbines at the new DanTysk windpark. Once completed, the facility located 70 kilometers west of the North Sea island of Sylt will have a capacity of about 290 MW. In February, the company also began construction of the foundationsfor 175 wind turbines at the London Array windpark in the Thames Estuary. When fully operational, theworld’s largest offshore power plant will have an output of 1,000 MW. For Bilfinger Berger, the projectshave a combined order volume of €350 million. Thecompany is market leader in the construction of foun-dations for offshore power plants in the North Sea andin the Baltic Sea.

PUMPI NG STATIONS FOR TH E PI PELI N E

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR OIL FIELD IN TEXASIn Southern Texas, Bilfinger Berger Industrial Services will design, manu-facture and build five pumping sta -tions and tank storage systems as partof a new, nearly 250-kilometer pipe-line to develop the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas field. The field is one of the largest in the United States. The client is Enterprise Products and the order has a volume of about €130 million.

N EW URBAN DISTRICT I N MUN ICH

POWER PLANT TURNED INTOLUXURY PROPERTYIn the city of Munich, Bilfinger Berger is involvedin the construction of an exclusive residential andcommercial district with an order volume of some€60 million. “The Seven” is being built on thegrounds of a former thermal power station. The56-meter machine tower will be retained as an industrial monument and converted into the tallest residential building in the city. A new five-floor atrium building will be built on the14,000 square meter grounds beside the tower.The Seven will also feature generous green spaces,an underground parking garage, a kindergartenand fitness area. The penthouse apartment in the machine tower is considered the most ex-pensive in Munich.

EXPAN DI NG TH E MOTORWAY N ETWORK

MORE ROADS FOR POLANDBilfinger Berger Budownictwo is involved in the expansion of the motorway network throughoutPoland. The newest project is a 23-kilometer sectionof National Road 8 near Rawa Mazowiecka. Whathad been a two-lane route is being expanded into a four-lane motorway. The order included con-struction of four junctions and 19 bridges. Work is expected to be completed by mid-2012 and the order volume amounts to €90 million.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

INTERNATIONAL DEMANDBilfinger Berger Facility Services has received orders from the industry with atotal value of about €55 million. BASF has commissioned technical services atlocations in 13 countries. At Carl Zeiss, the company is taking over technicalbuilding operations for two production locations. And Bilfinger Berger will manage all Swiss properties for Orange Communications. The contracts runfor periods of three to five years.

SO LONG, MATES!

AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS SOLDBilfinger Berger has sold Valemus, its Australian subsidiary. All shares werebought by Lend Lease, an Australian construction and real estate conglomer -ate. As a result of the transaction, Bilfinger Berger improves its net cash posi -t ion by over €500 million. The sale gives the Group financial scope to further expand its services business.

POWER PLANT UPGRADI NG

MEETING EU STANDARDSIn Belchatow, Poland Bilfinger Berger Power Services will modernize Europe’slargest lignite-burning power plant. The company will renew the steam gener -ators in six power plant blocks. The facility will then be in line with EuropeanUnion environmental standards. The project is being carried out in phases overa total period of 70 months, the order volume is €460 million.

PRIVATE PARTN ER FOR BELFAST SCHOOLS

AN INVESTMENT IN EDUCATIONBilfinger Berger Project Investments has been active in the education sector in Belfast, Northern Ireland for many years. Now the company is financ -ing, designing, building and, for a period of 25 years, operating two more schools as part of a publicprivate partnership. Lagan College will be renovatedand expanded while Tor Bank School will be com -pletely rebuilt. Investment volume amounts toabout €60 million.

TH E SKY’S TH E LIMIT

ASSEMBLY LINE FOR THE AIRBUSBilfinger Berger is building assembly lines for EADS. The most recent of seven orders to date includes design, manufacturing, construction and com-missioning of assembly lines for the Airbus A350 XWB and has a volume ofsome €150 million. About half of that total is accounted for by Bilfinger Berger. Assembly lines are currently being built at locations in Hamburg, Nordenham and Saint-Nazaire.

MARKET LEADER IN FOUNDATIONSFOR OFFSHORE WINDPARKS.

THE MACHINE TOWER BECOMES A LANDMARK.

AIRBUS ASSEMBLY PLANT IN HAMBURG.

50 \\ ROADS OF THE WORLD Bilfinger Berger Magazine // 02 2011

WHERE ELK CANSAFELY ROAMEuropean Route 18 runs from Norway viaSweden and Finland as far as Russia. One par-ticularly scenic section lies between Kristian-sand and Grimstad at the southern tip of Norway. The highway crosses deep fjords,pass es over hills and meanders through val-leys on its way to Oslo. For many years thissection of the E 18 was regarded as particu -larly dangerous. The road was narrow andwinding, with just one lane in each direction.When tourists poured into the countryside inJuly and the traffic volume swelled to 16,000vehicles per day, driving became hazardous.Then Bilfinger Berger straightened the roadand widened it to four lanes. More than six kilometers of the 40-kilometer section nowrun though tunnels and 60 bridges span thelandscape — not least in order to minimizethe impact on the habitat of elk and deer. Theroad is one of the first in Norway to be builtas a public private partnership. Bilfinger Ber-ger Project Investments will operate thesection until 2034. (si)

NORWAY

EUROPEAN ROUTE 18