Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Business Construct: Who has 1 bln. Euro for offices and shopping centers. OCTAGON , has built one of the projects

The number of developers active on the commercial market- offices, shopping centers and logistic spaces- is declining while new projects are being delivered and financial difficulties are delaying the return of other investors on the market. Yet, several groups who, most of the times have alternative financing sources, have ongoing projects worth almost one billion euro, quite an important slice of the construction market,   “Business Construct” writes.

Who is building?

NEPI: 386 mil. euro was, at the beginning of this year, the development budget of the South- African developer,  91 million euro of which have already been invested by the end of 2013, according to the company’s financial report. NEPI is, at present, one of the most active developers on the real estate market, considering the three shopping centers that it is developing in Pantelimon (Mega Mall) and Rahova (Vulcan Value Center) neighborhoods in Bucharest and  in Targu- Jiu, as well as the office building “The Office” in Cluj.

Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development: 180 mil. euro is the investment budget of the project ParkLake Plaza located in the Bucharest neighborhood  Titan, the shopping center the two investors started to develop this January, after repeatedly postponing the project for a few years. The project will have a total leasable area of 70,000 sqm.

Immochan- Auchan: 120 mil.euro  totals the investment in the shopping centers Coresi Brasov and Auchan Drumul Taberei, the delivery of which has been scheduled for the first trimester of next year.

Skanska:  80 mil. euro cost the first two stages of  the project Green Court from Barbu Vacarescu Blvd. OCTAGON  CONTRACTING & ENGINEERING executed concrete infrastructure and superstructure works for  building A (3B+ GF+ 11F).  The works consisted in excavation, diaphragm walls D 600, anchors and infrastructure works for building B.
Green Court Bucharest- Gara Herastrau Street, Bucharest
Globalworth: 60 mil. euro is the investment announced for the construction of  Bucharest  One tower, from the north of the Capital. The 23 storey tower will be raised near Aurel Vlaicu metro station.


AFI Europe: 50 mil. euro is the investment estimated for the construction of AFI Park 2 and  AFI Park 3 office buildings, near AFI Palace Cotroceni mall in Bucharest.

www.octagon.com.ro 

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Slurry walls used in combination with diaphragm walls, to support excavations

Slurry walls are generally used to seal dams, landfills or industrial installations, but in combination with diaphragm walls they can also support the excavations for the construction of building foundations. Slurry walls provide a non- structural barrier against water access, also called cut- off wall and they are executed from a mixture of bentonite and cement.

OCTAGON CONTRACTING & ENGINEERING has built slurry walls within a residential complex, located in Bucharest, on Gheorghe Titeica Street.

Residential Complex- 206- 208 Titeica Street, Bucharest


The excavation within this residential complex with two underground levels, was supported by a combination of diaphragm walls and slurry walls. On one side of the excavation the wall was adjacent to a previously built retaining system made of secant piles. On that side, the diaphragm wall was replaced with a self- hardening slurry wall, made of cemento- bentonite.

Olympia Tower, one of the office buildings with the most modern design in Bucharest, is another projects for the construction of which slurry walls have been used.  


Olympia Tower- Bucharest


OCTAGON executed foundation works and built the concrete structure. The geotechnical construction works consisted in the execution of diaphragm walls D 600 mm, bored piles D 880 mm, top beam 60X150 cm, general excavation of 14.200 cubic meters, foundation raft 900 sqm and metal structure to support the diaphragm walls.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Top- down construction, which allows the execution of infrastructure and superstructure of a building simultaneously, used frequently by OCTAGON

Multiple underground level buildings, located in crowded urban areas need the implementation of complex construction methods, able to guarantee their solidity. One of the most efficient solutions is the top-down construction. OCTAGON CONTRACTING & ENGINEERING has used this procedure frequently, for the construction of several office buildings.  
The main benefit of this method consists in the fact that the infrastructure and the superstructure of the building can be executed simultaneously, reducing significantly the execution term.
The construction method was adopted at the beginning of the ‘60s, but it is still used by a limited number of constructors, as this is not a procedure easy to apply: excavation under the floor is difficult to perform.
Top- down construction is performed in several stages.
OCTAGON started to use the top- down construction method to execute the infrastructure of the tallest office building in Bucharest: Sky Tower (Barbu Vacarescu Blvd). The company built three reinforced concrete floors, of 4,600 sqm each.
Sky Tower- Barbu Vacarescu Blvd, Bucharest

Between 2010- 2011, OCTAGON built the foundation and the structure of the underground levels 3 and 4 of building A, within Hermes Business Campus complex (5-7 Dimitrie Pompeiu Blvd- Bucharest).

Hermes Business Campus- 5-7 Dimitrie Pompeiu Blvd, Bucharest



The company used the top- down system to build the office projects Cathedral Plaza (General Berthelot), Charles de Gaulle Plaza (Charles de Gaulle Square) and the four star hotel Novotel (Calea Victoriei).

Monday, December 9, 2013

OCTAGON, constructor in cadrul celui mai mare proiect greenfield de electricitate din Romania

OCTAGON CONTRACTING & ENGINEERING a fost constructor in cadrul celui mai mare proiect privat greenfield de generare de electricitate realizat în România în ultimii 20 de ani, centrala Petrom de la Brazi. Centrala are o capacitate instalata de 860 MW, generata de 2 turbine cu gaz de 290 MW fiecare si o turbina cu abur, de 310 MW.  Investitiile totale realizate de Petrom pentru acest proiect au atins suma de 530 milioane de Euro.

Lucrarile de constructie s-au derulat in intervalul 2009- 2011, iar pe 1 august 2012 centrala a inceput operatiunile comerciale.

OCTAGON a realizat lucrarile de constructii geotehnice, structura, arhitectura, instalatii (electrice, sanitare, clima) si amenajari exterioare in cadrul proiectului.

Lucrarile de structura au inclus:
  •  Turnare de beton armat pentru 42 de cladiri, parte din centrala;
  •  Radier, h = 1:3m;
  • Grinzi din beton armat, h = 0,5: 0,25 m;
  • Diafragme si coloane;
  • Grinzi prefabricate turnate in- situ;
  •  Montare structura metalica incastrata in sprijiniri din beton.

Lucrarile de constructii geotehnice realizate de OCTAGON nu au fost incluse in proiectul initial. Necesitatea executiei pilotilor forati a aparut atunci cand conditiile de sol au fost evaluate in amanunt. Executia a inceput rapid, pentru a nu afecta termenul general de finalizare a centralei electrice. Lucrarile au constat in executia a 300 de piloti forati cu diametrul de 1,200 mm si s-au finalizat in decurs de o luna.

Petrom este cel mai mare grup de petrol si gaze din Europa de Sud-est, care genereaza circa 50% din productia de gaze a Romaniei. Petrom a luat decizia de a construi centrala de la Brazi in 2007, avand in vedere capacitatile de generare invechite care, potrivit legislatiei europene, trebuie inlocuite cu tehnologii noi, mai putin poluante, cu emisii de carbon mult mai reduse.Centrala OMV Petrom are o eficienta inalta, folosind  jumatate din cantitatea de gaz pe care o utilizeaza orice alta centrala pe gaz din Romania, pentru a genera aceeasi cantitate de electricitate.