Commotion in Busytown

Large-scale refurbishment and expansion works were required at Novozymes’ plant in Kalundborg, Denmark – without hindering daily operations. This required Artelia to carefully align expectations and tread softly to not get in the way of the client’s routines.

During the course of around eight months, a number of process facilities were to be renovated at Novozymes’ enzyme plant in Kalundborg known colloquially as ‘brown town’. In this rather busy area the renovation had to be carried out during the course of two major shutdowns and also during normal operations at the plant.

It’s about respecting the client’s work. We cannot get in the way of their daily operations, and at the same time we need to go about our own business pretty much unnoticed. Everything needs to be handled in a safe and sound manner, particularly when the plant is in operation,

Lars Bøgelund Jørgensen Division Director

Pharma & Life Science

The gist of reconstructing Novozymes’ process facilities was to bring in new equipment and take out outdated materials. Of course, this caused some commotion at times. Artelia provided construction management services all the way from the detailed design phase and until handover to the client.

“Time schedules need to be followed, and the entire restructuring has to be carried out effectively. Here at Artelia, we begin that process already in the planning phase – because previous experience from projects like this one has shown the importance of being involved from the get-go. This allows us early access to involve any relevant stakeholders and to ensure that expectations are aligned on all sides,” says Lars Bøgelund Jørgensen.

“As construction manager I worked closely with the project’s space manager. I was able to draw on my knowledge of processes and my technical experience and to combine that with the space manager’s particular insight into the new 3D installation. We are good at this sort of thing in Artelia because many of us come from a technical background. It provides a practical view on details which adds to the greater good”.