Our history

In 1930, civil engineer A.J. Moe was commissioned to design an extension to the H.C. Ørsted Power Station. Throughout the 90 years that have passed since this assignment, Artelia has designed energy-generating plants all over Denmark, including iconic projects such as the Avedøre Power Station and Amager Bakke.

We have thus taken part in the development of the energy sector and the introduction of sustainable technologies. Over the years, we have designed all the blocks at the Amager Power Plant, and subsequently participated in the conversion of Blocks 1 and 2 from coal to biomass. The new biomass-fired block BIO4 is the crowning glory that ensures the green conversion of the plant.

World War II and 6,000 bunkers
Large concrete structures were the core com-petency of the small company that had already made a mark as one of the country’s leading consultants for large power plants. That is why A.J. Moe was given the unique task to build 6,000 shelters all over Denmark during Second World War. The company was responsible for preparing the design of the bunkers and designed a considerable portion of them itself, while the rest were designed in collaboration with a nationwide network of other engineering firms.

Today, the bunkers are a part of the urban landscape in many places, where they form small green ridges in an otherwise flat Danish landscape. They are often used as rehearsal rooms or other creative purposes, and Artelia has also participated in creating a museum bunker in Frederiksberg.

Artelia even has its own bunker located at the office in Næstved.

The merger and Copenhagen Airport
In 1992, A.J Moe merged with O.H Brødsgaard and formed the company Moe & Brødsgaard. This added an exciting chapter to our history and a new professional DNA which still applies today.

O.H. Brødsgaard had a long-term relationship with Copenhagen Airport, stretching all the way back to the Vilhelm Lauritzen Terminal from 1939. The company was the engineer for the terminal, and many years later Artelia participated in moving the historic building in conjunction with the expansion of the airport in 1999. Today, the terminal is used for special events, such as state visits or the celebration of victorious Danish athletes returning from various international tournaments.

O.H. Brødsgaard was the engineer for the massive expansion of the runways in the 1960-70s, which was the largest construction project at the time. This helped lay the foun-dation for infrastructure as one of our three major business areas.

Throughout time, Artelia has contributed to countless building and construction projects at Copenhagen Airport, and we are still strongly represented there.

A black diamond and a blue planet
In 1999, the new addition to The Royal Danish Libary known as The Black Diamond opened the doors. This marked the beginning of an era of Artelia working as a consultant on a broad spectrum of groundbreaking iconic buildings in collaboration with world-renowned Danish architects. The engineering design of the spectacular architecture from the turn of the millennium onwards has made its mark on our work methods, where creative innovation is required to translate the vision of the architects into buildable reality. Artelia has been at the forefront of the field in the use of BIM and ICT. A good example of this is The Danish National Aquarium, The Blue Planet, which is world-renowned for its organic expression, which mimics circular water currents, the movement of fish shoals and the galaxies of the universe. The unique shape and double-curved façades did not allow the use of standard solutions, and the digital tools were taken to new heights in the calculation of advanced building geometry.

Development and growth
In parallel to this, we expanded our business significantly throughout the first decade of the century, with many new consulting services and customer segments. Client consulting became an important discipline, and with projects such as Rødovre Centrum, we became Denmark’s largest retail consultant. From 2003, Artelia acquired a series of engineering companies in major Danish cities, which gave us nationwide coverage. In 2009, Artelia acquired Polyplan in Norway that became our first subsidiary.

The development of the company resulted in a massive employee growth, which meant that the head office was moved to a new, sustainable and DGNB certified domicile in Gladsaxe in 2013. The building was designed by Artelia in collaboration with Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects.

Since then, the subsidiary, Pacific Tech Solutions (PTS) followed in the Philippines. PTS is a platform for increased competitiveness and resource reliability in the Danish market, and is also a local consultant solving projects in the fields of sustainable energy and buildings in the Philippines.

International ambitions
Artelia has its roots in the expansion of the H.C. Ørsted Power Plant. Today, 90 years later,  our biggest project to date, Amager Bakke has opened its doors. The plant is one of the world’s cleanest waste-to-energy plants, and is also a recreational urban area.

Today Artelia is a company with more than 900 employees. The unique Artelia culture remains an important foundation, and we maintain our values, such as trust, dialogue and freedom under responsibility, while social events help create close relationships across the company.

In 2019, Artelia joined Artelia Group. Over the years, Artelia has evolved from a traditional engineering company to an international multidisciplinary consulting group.

Establishment of a pharma division

In May 2022, LBP Engineering became part of Artelia Denmark. The merger was a win-win match. With LBP’s strong competences within process engineering facilities, testing and qualification, and Artelia’s broad multidisciplinary competences, a pharma division was created that is among the largest on the Danish market.

Change of name from MOE to Artelia

As part of the Artelia Group, our company has become an international player on the global market. This has brought us several exciting international projects and made it possible for us to be able to bid on larger projects in Denmark. As the Artelia Group is among the largest engineering consultants in Europe with over 7000+ employees in 40 countries, the Artelia name is a well-known and recognized brand in many countries. Therefore, it was natural to change the name from MOE to Artelia in March 2023, to strengthen the already existing international market profile.