When Andrea Štecáková joined Valbek SK (then Prodex) in Košice, she and her colleague laughed at the fact that the visible result of their work was often “just” a manhole cover. They were then rather a support for the cable profession. They are still sitting together in the Košice office and today they are designing the first high-speed line in the country, and they are not shy of projects with hundreds of objects and buildings in 3D.
The magic of the office in Košice is in the people
How do you remember your early days at work?
When I graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the year was 2002. I moved with my then-husband from Slovakia to Karlovy Vary, where he worked in the Valbek branch as a bridge builder. I found a job as a preparatory worker in a construction company. In Valbek I saw how designing works, teamwork and how construction is built from the ground up. And I was very interested. I decided to be a designer. I then moved to the Arton architectural studio, where we worked on the implementation documentation for the Aquaforum water park in Františkovy Lázně. We were creating a huge project from scratch, which was a great school for me, and I quickly got into design practice. In addition, we worked on smaller projects for hotels and wellness centres. Then I was on maternity leave, during which we moved back to Slovakia. In 2011, a branch of Valbek was established in Košice – at that time Valbek and Prodex coexisted in the same premises. They were looking for a designer, I was interested in the place and we quickly agreed.
How did you perceive the reality when the original Prodex completely went under Valbek?
This fact was known in advance and my normal working days were not significantly affected. Of course, a certain nostalgia associated with the name of the original company occasionally comes up in me. There is a very specific, almost family-like atmosphere here in Košice. Despite the high level of expertise, all team members, including the management, try to maintain humanity, reliability and loyalty. The magic of the Košice office is in the people.
What has changed and shifted the most for designers in these 10 years?
In 10 years I see the biggest shift in the transition from 2D to 3D design to BIM. This has a big impact not only on our work, but also on the client’s approach – everything is clearer for them and they can visualize many things thanks to the fact that they can see everything in 3D before construction. We are also seeing more and more requests for 3D construction projects, and there are also requests for 4D, which is time planning, and 5D, which includes financial planning. Both the investor and the building contractor know in which time period they need how much funding for the construction. In addition, complex details and coordination with water, sewer, HVAC and cable piping that are almost impossible to do in 2D can be easily resolved in 3D.
The result of my work was often just a hatch
What projects did you work on in your early days at Prodex in 2013?
There is a favourite story that my dear colleague and I have been sharing for over 10 years. When she was interviewing me for a job, she asked me what my idea of my job was – so that I wouldn’t be disappointed that sometimes my work only resulted in a hatch above the ground. In fact, at that time there were only two of us groundskeepers and we acted as support for other professions, especially the cable ones. My colleague is still my supervisor, but our work has become much more ambitious.
Shaft plan
Can you tell us more about the ELHAMO project?
In the years 2014-2016 we realized the electrification of the line Haniska – Veĺká Ida – Moldava nad Bodvou. We provided passenger orientation systems, cable ducts, fencing, building modifications for the installation of technological equipment. We had three ground workers working on it, and for me personally it was really the first large-scale project that involved all the professions that you can have on a construction site. It was the first time I saw how complicated it is to design something for the railways and how difficult the approval process is, i.e. what the requirements are, how the meetings are, the comment and approval system. This is quite different from working in the private sector, which is often overloaded by contrast. With the railways, there is a system of consultation, minutes are taken and everything is approved. The same system continues practically to this day.
This particular building is currently under construction – so a really long time has passed since it was designed. At that time the buildings were already in a very dilapidated state, but now – 8 years after the project – they are of course in a much worse state. The roof was leaking on the passenger building and the floor was sagging. So we had to proceed with the design of a new roof and new floors.
Was the modernisation of the Žilina – Košice railway line your biggest project? How do you remember it in retrospect?
Yes, it was one of the bigger projects. For me it was interesting mainly because I had already managed to make models of technological buildings in 3D in Revit. When you model a building, it’s often not easy to export the design documentation. Here, I was still finishing the output in the classic 2D Autocad, so it was a kind of developmental intermediate step in designing in 3D. This building, by the way, again involved all trades, the heating and ventilation was also done in 3D, so it was a good introduction to a new subject.
I would also like to mention the reconstruction of the passenger building of the railway station in Nové Zámky, which is a really big complex consisting of 5 blocks with premises for offices, training centre, doctor’s office, technology and for the public with a reception hall, waiting room, ticket offices, cafeteria. The problem with this renovation was the investor’s request to put employees from other buildings they wanted to sell into the passenger building. For this project we did the design for the building permit in 2D, but we decided to do the implementation project in 3D. A new building project in 3D is relatively simple, but for a renovation the whole process is more complicated. You model the old building first, but you have to think about which structures you are going to demolish, and already during the modeling you specify whether the structure is existing and stays, or is existing and is demolished. You then model the new structures. It is then very interesting for the investor to see a live model of the building and to switch between the different phases, for example how it will look after demolition. The investor also solved the problem of the electronic information boards in the hall being illegible due to glare in the winter months. Simulating the sun path in Revit confirmed this problem and also solved it, as I designed the shading to the extent needed. It wasn’t until we were modelling the buildings that we realised that the timeframe for such a project was far greater than originally estimated. Sometimes it requires up to double the requirements. When a study or design for a building permit is done in 2D, everything is done relatively quickly and most of the work is spent on the actual implementation project. With 3D, everything has to be modelled at the beginning, so that’s where the bulk of the work falls. At the end, it’s mainly the reports, details and minor issues that are dealt with. Thanks to the cooperation with a young colleague, an expert in Revit, we managed to create this project documentation completely in Revit.
The high-speed line is a novelty in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
You are currently working on the Modřice – Šakvice high-speed railway line project – how is the project going?
Yes, I am involved as one of the designers and a specialist in civil engineering. In May, we submitted the draft documentation for the zoning procedure and environmental impact assessment for comments. So we are going to incorporate the comments and make the final submission in September. The whole project will be in BIM. We are modelling all 100 civil engineering buildings in 3D. These are the smaller fencing objects, the canopies, a significant number of process buildings and the biggest building of interest in the maintenance base. Having a young architect on our team has taken the burden of the aesthetic part of the building design off us. This is a really big project that involves all professions. Of course, this is new for all of us, railways for such speed have not been designed in the Czech Republic or Slovakia before. We are working directly with French specialists and we have been to France to see the high-speed line itself. Now we have modelled the buildings and my colleague is fitting them into the coordinates. We are looking forward to coordinating and connecting with the models of other professions, it is always a treat to see the result of your own work, especially in 3D.
Does the work in the Czech Republic have any specifics, or is it similar to Slovakia?
I see it as very similar so far. Designing for Slovak railways has the same specifics as for Czech ones. Historically they come from the same background and our mentality is quite similar. It seems to me that the Czech railways may be a bit ahead, but the Slovak ones are not slacking off either – in fact, there is a generational change in the ranks of the staff.
How do you see the challenges and opportunities for design in the next decade?
The next 10 years will be about the adoption of 3D design and BIM in all professions. Government contracts will have to be done in BIM and it will become the standard. We will see the continuation of high-speed lines, we have already won some tenders, more are coming. We will start to tender for buildings other than rail. I expect we will also do contracts related to the reconstruction of Ukraine. We have very skilled colleagues there, I imagine we could be of great help to them.
Medallion:
Ing. Andrea Štecáková graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University in Košice, majoring in Building Construction. However, she fell in love with designing and currently works in the Košice centre of Valbek SK as a designer of civil engineering. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and her two daughters, and she likes to relax with good music or a book with a cup of coffee in her hand.
Ing. Andrea Stecakova, civil engineering designer
