BMS handles heavy lifting at the ESS construction site

The construction of the European Spallation Source began in 2014 and shortly after the Danish crane company BMS was chosen as full-line supplier of mobile cranes for the comprehensive construction. The assignment is part of a preliminary sub-supplier contract of four years with ESS’ main contractor Skanska and includes lifting of practically everything on the construction site, from concrete blocks and steel parts to fluid containers and machinery.

BMS’ Swedish daughter company BMS Kranar AB, which already collaborates with Skanska on other projects, handles the main parts of the assignment and serves as a good example of how a sub supplier collaboration can lead to more work.  

- Our Swedish daughter company has several years of collaboration with Skanska, which was an important factor when we contacted ESS to bid on the framework contract. The work of the task surpasses the capacity for BMS Kranar AB and therefore, we also bring in our Danish cranes and employees for the job, says Kim Hvolbøl, Regional Director at BMS.  

BMS Kranar AB won the framework contract with ESS in autumn 2015 and started the work in early 2016. While the first part of the assignment primarily focused on lifting concrete and steel parts, the future work of BMS is centered on the physical spaces and technical arrangements. BMS’ many certifications support this work, as the construction of ESS must meet the safety demands of Swedish law, which means that the many European suppliers must meet a number of standards.   

- During the past years, we have experienced that our customers increasingly ask for more project management and have stricter demands regarding safety. Since much of our work includes overall solutions related to lifting and transport, it makes perfect sense for us to have certifications within a number of different areas, says Kim Hvolbøl.

- We had all the ISO and OHSAS standards, which ESS needed in order to approve us as a supplier, which has definitely been a contributing factor to us winning the assignment, he says.  

The construction costs for building the ESS amounts to 1.84 billion Euros.