The Civil Construction & Industrial Services Division of the ATB Group starts the year with the right pace. The results of the reorganisation of the company are now tangible, mainly as regards the synergies and the joint work among the companies that form the industrial group led by Sergio Trombini. During the first months of 2020, the Italian market was particularly fruitful and stimulating: many projects in the fields of industrial buildings and demolitions kicked off when the year started.
INBERG and INBRE
In northern Italy, Semat, a company belonging to the ATB Group, has been recently awarded two «twin» projects, quite similar in terms of design and execution: Inberg and Inbre.
By the end of last December, the contract with Inberg (Iniziative Bergamasche Srl) was signed to provide the civil engineering works needed to set up the Morlana small hydro-power plant, in Nembro, Province of Bergamo. More specifically, Semat is in charge of the site clearing works, and building the concrete slurry walls and the silt excluder. A second stage of the project will involve building the plant and all its ancillary works, and completing the external finishings, fencing and final planting.
«We will have to recondition the bed of the river and create a new cofferdam to raise the level of the watercourse», explains Venturino Magnolini from Semat. «This will facilitate digging under the water-bearing stratum». If all deadlines scheduled are met, the site will be closed by next summer.
The works that started at Darfo Boario Terme to set up the Le Rive small hydro-power plant are quite similar. «The project is practically identical, except for a slight difference», explains Cosimo Ippolito from Semat. «In this case, instead of building slurry walls, we have to do something different because of the sand and gravel in the soil: we have to use steel sheet piles to delimit the perimeter of the area where we have to excavate». The works at Darfo will be completed in September. «We are currently driving the sheet piles», adds Ippolito.
SIDER POTENZA
In record time, between Boxing Day and the Epiphany, Semat and Sid finished a complex project at the Sider Potenza site owned by the Pittini Group. Taking advantage of the winter break, these two companies, that are part of the ATB Group, showed excellent capacity to work together seamlessly as one team to demolish and rebuild the water treatment system of the steel plant in Potenza.
«First of all, we had to dismantle the old reinforced concrete tanks, and then build the foundations and the new systems», explains Anastasio Intini, building surveyor from Semat. «In this project, everything was about time and planning. In order to meet the deadlines specified by the client, we concentrated all the activities in two weeks, worked non-stop, and organised regular work shifts plus night shifts».
Thanks to total synergy between Semat and Sid (the latter was in charge of the demolitions), all works were finished at the expected times. «We worked within a very limited area- about 600 square meters- 48 hours in a row, with 5 machines and as many technicians and operators», underlines Luca Zambarbieri, Technical Director from Sid. «It was a true challenge, but we were able to show our client that we are a trustworthy, highly efficient partner. There were no delays and all our men at the site worked in total safety thanks to the seamless understanding we had with Semat».
Former FRANZONI facilities
Another important demolition project that started in the first months of 2020 was pulling down the Franzoni facilities, a former cotton mill in Esine, Valle Camonica. It took us three weeks to completely clear the warehouse and to strip it out (that is, removing any non-structural components and equipment).
The true demolition works started a month ago, and it is progressing in controlled sessions by areas of 3000 m² at a time, for a total of 24,000 m². «Since we used special machinery and techniques, no staff had to work at a height, and so we did away with any risk of accidents», adds Zambarbieri.
«Like in any project we execute, this one was also carefully planned in order to minimise the environmental impact. We disposed the waste in a sound manner by sorting scrap materials by quality, and limited the dust raised so that adjacent roads and neighbours were not affected».
