Hard work is underway in the Swedish city of Gothenburg on the construction of the tallest skyscraper in all of Scandinavia. An important part of this major project is the construction of new district heating. In 2021, Brownline was commissioned by BAB Rörtryckning AB to survey two drills for this project.
The Karlatornet skyscraper is part of the currently being built Karlasteden complex. This complex consists of nine buildings and is being constructed in the Lindholmen Science Park in Gothenburg. Upon its completion in 2023, the Karlatornet will be no less than 245 meters high and consist of 73 floors, making it the tallest building in all of Scandinavia. District heating is used throughout Gothenburg, which means that this will also be the case in this new complex. To ensure that there is sufficient capacity for the entire complex, the local energy supplier Göteborg Energi has decided to expand the existing network.
This newly constructed part of the district heating network consists of two pipelines of 900 mm in diameter with a total length of 260 meters. The pipes will be placed at 15 meters deep, in the underground clay layer. The trajectory contains many existing pipelines, but also remnants of the foundations of old bridges and railway lines. The combination of the soft bottom and many underground obstacles required absolute control and extreme accuracy during this drilling. By choosing the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool in combination with the GPS Track for additional verification, all challenges were easily overcome. Thanks to the very good cooperation with the BAB Rörtryckning drilling crew, both pilot drills were carried out within 3 days. The entire project, including drawing the product pipes, was completed in just 16 days.
This textbook example of a perfectly executed and coordinated horizontal directional drilling resulted in great satisfaction from all parties involved. The deadlines have been met, allowing the construction of the impressive Karlatornet to proceed according to schedule.