In the ceremony held at the cultural centre “Ziemeļblāzma” on the evening of 7 March, the best Latvian builders and their accomplishments in 2018 were honoured.

The office building Gamlestads Torg in Gothenburg (Sweden), constructed by UPB, was awarded first prize in the category “New Building – Public Building”. For this project, UPB carried out the designing, production and assembly of the façade elements. The total area of the glass façades is 12,100 m².

The Gamlestads Torg complex consists of 2 separate buildings that house office facilities and a cultural centre. The tallest of the buildings is 82 metres high. The complex is located in Gamlestaden, a district of Gothenburg, and it is its business centre and traffic hub.

The main challenge for the engineers during the designing phase of the building was the unique façade element system, consisting of double-skin structure façade elements. In order to achieve the envisaged appearance of the object, 4 different types of silk-screening, created by using a combination of 3 different silk-screens (100% white, 65% white, 0% white), were used for the pattern.

During assembly, the main challenge was the operating infrastructure that surrounds the object. As the tram and railway rails are in close proximity to the object, the size of the construction site was significantly limited and extra safety measures had to be implemented.

The designing of the object was carried out in 7 months, the production of the elements – 3 months, and the assembly of the object – 6 months.