Before starting work, the TEC Consulting team had to go through several selection stages. Firstly, the client was presented with the company, the work carried out, the structure of the company’s employees and shareholders, the financial statements, as well as examples of the methodologies used in previous projects. “Later, as in every tender, we asked a lot of questions about the work to be carried out, the scope of the project and, after clarifying them, we submitted a commercial proposal,” recalls Čerkevičius. “Negotiations and adjustments to the scope of work followed. After all these stages, our proposal was selected as the best and we signed the contract. In the spring, the work was completed and the construction completion certificate was issued. “It was a nice pre-Christmas gift for the client, the project participants and all those who contributed to this common goal,” says Čepelė.
The main objective of the project was to extend the existing production hall and to equip the administrative part of the building. This was done without disrupting production processes, so the project team had to adapt to the existing situation and plan the construction work in a way that did not interfere with the factory’s operations. “The total area of the building increased by 7210 m² after the reconstruction. Of course, a gas boiler house, HVAC equipment, the necessary engineering networks and all the other systems required for the safe operation of the building were also installed,” explains the project manager. The experience and expertise of the client, the designers, the construction manager, the maintenance manager and the general contractor’s team have all contributed to the efficient execution of the works and the success of the project. “In addition, this project has paid particular attention to safety, and I am pleased that the joint efforts of the TEC Consulting team, the client and the contractor were able to avoid accidents,” says Čepelė.
According to TEC Consulting’s Project Manager, when it comes to off-site projects, perhaps the main challenge is to ensure that existing activities are not interrupted. “As we needed to expand the existing production hall without completely disrupting production processes, we first had to carefully review the entire workflow and assess the potential risks so that we could take action to manage them,” says the expert. His colleague D. Čerkevičius echoes him: “We had to make sure that no construction dust entered the existing production hall, as even the smallest amount of dust could cause a production defect. For this purpose, a temporary scaffolding wall was installed, which was tightly covered with an anti-static film, as the static load generated by the conventional one would have compromised the quality of the production.
In addition, the construction process itself had to be properly managed. “Construction inevitably generates vibrations, which pose a risk to the production process and can affect the quality of the products, so we had to use innovative solutions to minimise this risk,” says Čepelė. To this end, the company collaborated with the Civil Engineering Research Centre of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. “Vibration monitoring data was analysed to assess the sensitivity of the floor structures, the source of vibrations and their distance. By minimising the risk, this allowed the selection of soil compaction equipment and the safe execution of the works without compromising the ongoing production,” explains the project manager.
“The Continental Automotive Lithuania factory building has been designed and constructed in accordance with high environmental and sustainability requirements, achieving the international LEED Gold standard for sustainable buildings. In addition, the project was selected as the best BIM project in the category of industrial buildings in the competition “Lithuanian BIM Projects 2022”. “The Continental Automotive Lithuania factory building project used a variety of digital solutions: an electronic document management system, the delivery and acceptance of work in an electronic construction work log, the organisation of remote meetings and the management of tasks of construction process participants using dedicated software packages.
TEC Consulting is part of the TEC Group of companies, which also includes TEC Industry and TEC Infrastructure. The group provides design, consultancy, maintenance, project and construction management and other engineering services for transport infrastructure, industry and energy facilities.
