Our assignement
Through successful business development, Skanska Residential Building Stockholm created Sjöstadsporten in Hammarby Sjöstad, south of Stockholm, to be acquired by two core customers. Thereafter, Skanska served as the general contractor for the properties.
The project included three properties – a residential property with 84 apartments, a 12-story office property spanning 6,000 square meters and a shorter office property comprising 7,500 square meters connected to the taller building. The land is owned by Skanska Properties and housed a parking lot prior to the start of the project.
The residential property and 12-story building were ordered by AB Familjebostäder and the shorter office property by Areim.
The project was unique in that it represented a major internal undertaking for Skanska. Various Skanska units were involved, including Skanska Foundation Projects, Skanska Civil Construction, Skanska Installation and Skanska Frame Systems.
Construction process
Ground was broken and the intensive construction project commenced in March 2008. We encountered our first challenge during the foundation work. When we began piling, we discovered an entire underground floor from a previous property. However, we quickly solved this challenge with the assistance of the City of Stockholm by filling and reinforcing the hollow space.
Since the assignment comprised three projects, logistics were a key component of the construction process. At most, some 200 people worked at the site and building cranes, material transportation and foundation machinery were crowded into the limited space. However, through structured coordination, work continued without any disturbances.
The construction process, which continued for two years, was struck by two harsh winters with cold temperatures and extreme amounts of snow. This meant that the employees working at the site were sometimes forced to spend time shoveling snow rather than on construction work. The snow also resulted in poor accessibility. Nevertheless, the schedule for the project was maintained.
The office building is divided into three connected units covering seven floors and a taller building spanning 12 floors and is strategically located near the heavily trafficked Södra Länken motorway and Hammarby Allé. Thanks to its location, the office building serves as a sound barrier against the busy motorway and protects the residential property from the environmental and safety risks associated with the nearby traffic. To further improve safety in the event of an accident on Södra Länken, reinforcements were built into the façade of the office building.
The residential property was built using a VST framing system with a very high level of density, which provides a favorable energy performance and comfortable indoor climate. The property comprises two connected building bodies with eight stories facing the street. The balconies and inner courtyard of the residences face the back of the office building, which contributed to our decision to reduce the depth of the top two stories of the office building by six meters in order to allow more sunlight to reach the courtyard.
