See what's happening

See what is happening at the construction site, as well as illustrations of the complete airport!

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AF Group has taken a week's summer holiday

LO-coordinator Børge Torgeirsen, SHA-coordinator Anne Rindahl Karlsen and construction manager Krister Bjørnbak were out at the plant on July 13th to ensure that everything was in order before AF Group takes a well-deserved two-week summer holiday.

Here they are at the crushing plant located in the far north of the future runway. The stone that is crushed here will be used as a frost protection layer on the access road from the E12 to the new airport.

This summer, AF Group will establish a rigging area for office rigging and construction machinery at the new roundabout at the airport. The machine park on the site is certainly starting to take shape.

A lot has happened in the area since AF Group started its work at the end of May.

From the new municipal road, where work is currently underway to convert 132kv.

The new municipal road. This is as far west as you get in the facility.

The new treatment plant will be established in this area, directly above the upcoming roundabout.

Krister Bjørnbak together with AF Gruppen's Rune Hettervik. Rune works, as he says, with "everything we don't see". That is, the groundwork itself under the construction area.

Christ in front of the area where the terminal building will be located. A full 30 meters of fill will be laid under the terminal building.

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Tore Løkke will shortly complete its work at Skuggheia

Progress has been at full speed recently at Skuggheia, and on Friday, Tore Løkke can take a few weeks’ holiday with a happy heart.

On 11 July, the project manager for the U3 runway system and infrastructure, Øyvind Dahle, came for a site inspection together with construction managers Inge-Brigt Eide and Krister Bjørnbak at Skuggheia, and they were very pleased with the results of the work that has been done.

“Only a little work is now left at Skuggheia,” says construction manager Krister Bjørnbak.

“Tore Løkke is finished with the work over the railway. Only some levelling and covering of the area remains, where nature will be allowed to take over once again. The drain installed up at Fagerlia is starting to come into place, as well as two at Skuggheia, and the connections between discharge pipes and drains are now in place.”

“And so, only the discharge pipe based in the drain and out to the river is left to do. The water that will be carried from the airport to Ranelva will go through a new sedimentation reservoir in the area, which means that discharges will be minimal,” says Krister Bjørnbak.

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Inspection on Midsummer’s Eve 23.06.23. AF Gruppen has made very good progress with the mass movement of vegetation and blasting work.

This is what it looks like at the top of the construction site, north of where the runway will be:

The new municipal road around the airport where the OPI ducts have been placed and covered:

The area above Steinbekkhaugen, the new approach for aircraft:

The new municipal road:

View from the roundabout that connects the access road, the new municipal road and the road up to the terminal building:

From the top of the construction site. Lots of machines at work:

View from the top of the construction site towards Mo i Rana:

The new access road from the E12, past Avinor’s cooperation rig and up to the where the airport will be:

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Why is there light regulation at the new airport

“Will be completed within two-three weeks.”

PK Strøm is now finishing the work on the E12 for the establishment of the access road to the new airport in Mo i Rana. In order to be able to do this job in an orderly manner, only one lane of the road is currently in use past the office area in Fagerlia.

A roundabout will not be built by the E12, however it was widened in the summer of last year, as there are plans to extend it to a three-lane road past the access road to the airport. This is because there will be left-turn lanes for those coming from the west and right-turn lanes for those coming from the east to ensure the good flow of traffic past the airport.

“We completed much of the work for this part of the contract last year, but now the infrastructure that need to be put in the ground – culverts, blast pipes for cables and OPI ducts – will be put in place,” explains the PK Strøm project leader Vidar Larsen.

“This work will be completed within two-three weeks, and we’ll be laying asphalt within the next week. Then, we’ll continue for a few days putting up signs and street lights before this part of our contract will be fully completed by the week of 3 July,” says Larsen.

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Tour of the facility on 16 May 2023. The construction roads and the permanent roads are really starting to take shape, and many of AF Gruppen’s machinery is on site. Their work will start from the end of May.

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University students visit Fagerlia: “It’s so important that we get out of the classroom”

Construction and engineering students at Campus Helgeland were excited to see the future airport up-close.

The construction of the new airport in Mo i Rana is fully underway in Fagerlia, and this week Avinor welcomed construction and engineering students from the University of Tromsø’s department in Mo i Rana.

The students were given a presentation on the progress of the construction work at the site offices before they, along with the construction manager at Avinor, Trond Erling Vindenes, and the PK Strøm project manager, Vidar Larsen, visited the site itself.

“Do-or-die”

Morten Fordelsen and Hugo Kvitnes were extremely pleased with the visit.

“It’s so important for us to get out of the classroom and see what’s happening on site. Morten and I are both ageing journeymen with some system failures currently undergoing repairs,” jokes Hugo.

His background is with Rana Gruber, while Morten has worked for a number of companies. They are extremely grateful that there are opportunities to participate in continuing education and retraining in Rana.

“For me, this do-or-die for my working life. Due to strain injuries, I have been out of work for a while, but thanks to the vocational pathway, I can now get a bachelor’s and a job as a foreman at this type of site. We are really grateful that Avinor and PK Strøm have welcomed us, so we can how things work here,” says Hugo.

More return trips planned

Tor Kildal, lecturer at UiT, is clear that they would like to return to the construction site for the new airport.

“This is a major project, which is extremely relevant to our studies. It is interesting to both see and hear how things work here. We absolutely have to come back, at least once a year, so that we can follow the progress.”

“We love to get out and about, and this is far from the first site visit we’ve had in the area. However, it is, without a doubt, the most interesting site we’ve been to.

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Airport manager in Røros gets involved in the reception project in Rana

Gudbrand Rognes (47) is looking forward to contributing to this major project.

After it became clear that the airport in Røros would switch to Remote Towers, the operational capacity of airport manager Gudbrand Rognes has been released. He can now use this new-found freedom to offer his extensive knowledge to the reception project for the New Airport, Mo i Rana (ENMR).

Rognes has worked for Avinor for his entire career, starting back in 1996 when it was stilled known as Luftfartsverket. He has worked as an air traffic controller, head of air traffic control and operational manager of AFIS, and has been an airport manager since 2015. He took up his first managerial position in 2001.

“It was on the cards that I might be part of the project when Røros switched to Remote Towers, and I am happy to work on something as interesting and exciting as the new airport in Mo i Rana. It is rare that a completely new airport is built by Avinor, so this is undoubtedly historic,” says Rognes.

“I’m looking forward to working in more roles and parts of the company and believe that it’s healthy to try something new. I hope that I’ve picked up a lot in both my career and personal life that will be relevant for the project,” he continues.

Rognes is clear that employees at Røros Airport will still be taken care of, just as they are today.

“I believe we have skilled and responsible people at Røros Airport, and they will undoubtedly manage in an exemplary manner. I will continue to be available to them, even though some of my time will be spent elsewhere,” says Rognes.

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The major development projects have concluded an important cooperation agreement with the police and municipality

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“It’s amazing that we’ve come together for this agreement”

Avinor, Freyr Battery, Mo Industrial Park, Rana Utvikling and Ranaregionen Næringsforening have concluded a cooperation agreement with Rana Municipality, Rana police, the Nordland “a-crime centre”, a joint task force which tackles work-related crime, and the business liaison in the Nordland police district relating to the major construction projects in Rana.

The purpose of this is to prevent social dumping and work-related crime. “Social dumping” refers in particular to foreign workers performing work in Norway who receive significantly worse pay and working conditions than Norwegian workers.

“I’m glad that we’ve put this agreement in place. With the growth and development taking place in Rana in the coming years, it is important that both the authorities, developers and unions act in a coordinated manner so that construction and investments are carried out in the best way possible,” says Geir Waage, mayor of Rana.

The cooperation agreement that has now been signed will ensure a safe, serious and organised working life that avoids social dumping, work-related crime and the distortion of competition between businesses.  The agreement will develop cooperation between parties, better resource utilisation and improve the quality of the parties’ task resolution when it comes to preventing work-related crime.

  Freyr and Avinor have also hired an LO coordinator, Børge Torgeirsen, who works equally on both of the two projects.

“It’s encouraging that Freyr and Avinor have employed an LO coordinator for the projects,” says Waage.

  Rana Municipality has a number of major development projects underway, which will involve a significant increase in the city’s population. Freyr Battery recently opened a pilot factory and has begun work on its gigafactory, Avinor is building a new major airport and Mo Industrial Park is expecting several major development projects. Rana Municipality has further estimated and planned that several thousand more homes need to be built in Mo i Rana in the years ahead.

  The parties to the collaboration agreement shall use fixed contact points. The contact points will keep in regular contract and are responsible for the cooperation and the exchange of information between parties working as intended. This will occur through fixed cooperation meetings in various arenas.

“It’s great that we have come together for this agreement, which will ensure equal competitive conditions in working life and will further contribute to those who are employed on the projects being able to work safely,” says the business contact in the Nordland police district, Håvard Fjærli.

 “I think it’s great that all the parties have come together and agreed that this is an important goal to work towards. I think that together we will manage to prevent work-related crime and social dumping, and not least send a clear signal that we want a serious working life here,” says Fjærli.

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From sole proprietorship to 60 employees and an airport contract worth NOK 113 million

At the new Mo i Rana Airport (ENMR), PK Strøm from Rognan is the main contractor for contract 356 – Construction roads. The enterprise was established as a sole proprietorship, but became an AS in 2004. Today, PK Strøm has about 60 employees. Around half of these are now engaged on the airport project, in addition to the labour they have hired, including the blasting company Nitrex.

“It’s so great to be involved in building a major community project like an airport,” says project manager at PK Strøm, Vidar Larsen.

He trained as an engineer at Sør-Trøndelag University College, and has been an employee of PK Strøm since 2014.

“It was actually completely accidental because I’d already accepted a job at a company in Bodø. Then Pål Kenneth Strøm called me and said ‘I hear you’re an engineer now? Would you like to work for us?’ It was very easy for me to say yes to company based 400 metres from my home rather than move to Bodø,” says Vidar.

The contract is worth NOK 113 million, compared to PK Strøm’s previous largest contract, which was worth NOK 75 million. Vidar is clear that the job of laying the new roads at the airport is complex.

“There are new challenges compared to what we are used to, but they are not insurmountable. It’s more exciting. So far, things are going well. There are good people working with us,” says Vidar.

A total of 40 people are working on the road network, divided into two shifts. Work takes place between 07:00-19:30, including breaks, and our workforce works one week on, one week off. While they are in Rana, they stay at the site offices they have borrowed from Momek, but are now setting up their own one along the E12, not far from the construction site.

“We really like Rana and the work we are doing on the airport. It’s a break from our typical work on water and drainage systems, for example, with lots of small details. PK Strøm also has strong road-building expertise, but this is on a larger scale with larger machinery.

The roads PK Strøm is building have the temporary names 20,000, 21,000 and 22,000, and meet at a large roundabout inside the current construction site. Road 20,000 handles arrivals from the E12, while 22,000 is the new municipal road. Road 21,000 goes up to the new terminal building. The site will be handed over to the project on 15 September this year.

“At present, we are on track, but we are constantly assessing the situation to make sure that we are on track,” says Vidar.

In total, eight diggers, six dump trucks, two bulldozers, a loader, two rollers and four drilling rigs are working to get the almost six-kilometre-long road network in place. There will also be an additional 4.5 kilometres of temporary roads.

“It has been a great pleasure to work on this project, and we are looking forward to handing over a great site right after the start of school,” says Larsen.

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On 11 January, Avinor had its main safety round with a focus on the site offices. SHW coordinator, Anne Rindahl Karlsen, was able to confirm that everything is in order at the new offices, which will be handed over to the project on 15 February of this year.

At the site offices, there will be 41 office spaces, and 32 people employed and hired by Avinor will work there.

UCO is the main contractor for the site offices. Department manager Bernt-Stian Berntsen and director of operations Kjell-Ove Sumstad were involved in the safety round.

SHW coordinator Anne Rindahl Karlsen, alongside the PK Strøm safety co-ordinator Steinar Myhre on the stairs. The site offices have a universal design with a lift between floors.

View from road 20,000 from the E12 to the roundabout, which is scheduled for completion on 1 March of this year.

View from road 22,000, where 36,000 cubic metres have been excavated in the cutting.

PK Strøm is all set for blasting on road 22,000.

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On 20 December, Avinor had its final site inspection of the year. PK Strøm, which has been contracted for the construction roads, is well underway on the main artery road into the new airport. The project’s new offices have been set up along the E12.

At the inspection was construction manager Trond Erling Vindenes, project coordinator Flemming Berthelsen and SHW/EC coordinator Anne Rindahl Karlsen.

We will be on our Christmas holidays from 22 December to 2 January, and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Anne Rindahl Karlsen, Flemming Berthelsen og Trond Erling Vindenes på befaring den 20. desember.

Anne Rindahl Karlsen, Flemming Berthelsen and Trond Erling Vindenes at the inspection of 20 December.

Fra rundkjøringen i det nye anlegget.

From the roundabout into the new site.

Cutting from the roundabout and up to road 21,000.

New arrivals from the E12.

Overview of the area. Here you can see road 20,000 from the E12 up to the roundabout, as well as roads 21,000 and 22,000 up to the airport.

The new cooperation offices for Avinor, Sweco and AF Gruppen along the E12.

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Start-up in September 2022

In September 2022, construction work began at the site in Fagerlia, and on Monday 26 September, the first salvo went off. You can see pictures here from the first month of work at the site.