Specially constructed weather protection saved the Potatisåkern site in Malmö

It was at the end of November 2007 when the residents in the Potatisåkern building in Malmö, one of the most famous apartment blocks in the region, woke up one night to find their building on fire. The strong 34 mph (54 km/h) wind contributed to making the Fire Brigade powerless against the fire. The top floors were completely gutted and 70 families became homeless that night.

After the fire, the insurance company quickly gave permission to set up a weather shield, to protect the workplace and material from rain and snow during reconstruction and repairs.

It turned out to be a challenge to cover the large building with a Gibson weather shield. Hallbyggarna-Jonsereds' Gibson weather shield is designed for rectangular buildings. Not for a building that is shaped like a letter "S". The solution was to build a weather protection structure consisting of 23 sections, each 5

metre long, which gave a total length of 155 metre.

Each section then followed the shape of the building, thanks to a special construction technique that was specially designed for the situation. The total extent of the weather protection structure added up to more than 2,000 square metres.

In addition to the special shape of the building, the seasonal weather brought its own difficulties. The winter and spring in Scania province brought constant snow, rain and storms that blasted in across the Öresund waterway. This contributed to making the job of assembling the weather protection extra difficult.

"Hallbyggarna-Jonsereds' positive attitude was a major factor in our decision at Heab-Byggställningar to accept the contract for putting up the scaffolding" says Håkan Carlsson.

These days, the building has been repaired, and the residents have moved back in again. Max Ferkinhoff, who is Hallbyggarna-Jonsereds' sales representative in Malmö. has every reason to be satisfied.

"This is the biggest and most difficult job we have ever had during my time at Hallbyggarna-Jonsereds. So I am very happy that we managed it."