Bygg.no: New Arctic builds in Scandinavia with Polish participation

New Arctic builds in Scandinavia with Poles

Polish employees are the foundation of the new Arctic Building & Construction company. The company's owners want to create the largest subcontracting company in the Scandinavian countries. 

Stefan Offergaard

Published: 23.11.2017 14:27.

- Our goal is to create the largest and comprehensive construction subcontracting company in the Nordic countries.  In our view, companies that can offer a broad spectrum of subcontracting services are a scarce commodity in Norway, says Ragnar Reitan.

In November, together with Kaare Nordbø, he established Arctic Building & Construction, which is to be the parent company for already existing subsidiaries in Norway, Iceland and Poland. There are also plans to establish a subsidiary in Sweden

Polish resource bank

The two owners have nearly 25 years of experience in the industry and have been managing and implementing large construction projects since 2001, with a significant share of Polish employees and Polish suppliers.

- The companies that make up Arctic are managed by Scandinavians, while the workforce is Polish. We are already implementing projects in Norway and Iceland, and soon in Sweden. We use Poland as a resource bank, because we get our manpower and materials from there, says Reitan, and explains that they have created an extensive administrative structure in Poland.

Arctic Poland was previously called Reinertsen Polen, and was part of Reinertsen AS. The subsidiary was bought by Kaare Nordbø in 2015. He then founded Concretum, which in turn became the backbone of the new Arctic Building & Construction.

In-depth training

Reitan says they can handle any order from concrete or carpentry work to the design or delivery of prefabricated external walls and modular bathrooms.

He is not worried that customers will turn their noses up at the fact that the company uses foreign labour.

- This is because we have a team in Poland that has been recruiting employees for many years. Candidates undergo thorough interviews and their references are checked. Employees also have to undergo health and safety training and are then hired on clear and decent terms, says Reitan.

Reitan believes that frivolous companies have undeservedly given Polish workers a bad reputation.

- Poles know how to work hard, are conscientious and very good at their jobs. There is nothing wrong with Polish workers being part of the workforce on Norwegian construction sites, but there are many frivolous companies that should review their procedures and rules, he says and adds:

- If a company does not have the right people and rules for recruiting and controlling its employees, then it is asking for problems itself. Foreign workers should be treated as good colleagues and not as imported goods, he says.

Decent health and safety training

Secretary of the trade union Norsk Arbeidsmandsforbund: Steinar Rindhølen says that, in principle, there are no obstacles to using Polish labour, but adds that it is very important that workers are employed on open-ended contracts and are well trained in health and safety.

- A conference on health and safety has just finished showing that foreign workers are at high risk of accidents in the workplace. They need to be trained at all times and the company that employs them needs to feel legally responsible, he says.

- On projects where foreign employees work, we often observe that employees change much more frequently. This is not the happiest solution. The company should use one and the same employees for a longer period of time, so that they have the opportunity to get to know the project best, he adds.

http://www.bygg.no/article/1334977