In October 2022, the Valbek branch was opened in Gothenburg. The main goal is to grow up to a strong and respected project branch in the Nordic region. Over a few months, two branches have developed in Sweden. The second one is in Malmö. The Valbek team has eleven experienced designers now, who are working on interesting projects. The head of the team in Malmö is a very kind and professional BIM designer Mae Rickardsson. In this interview, she told us more about her vision, new colleagues, the nearest plans and opportunities in the Swedish market.

Mae, could you tell me, how did the new branch take off? How many more colleagues do you want to add?

It is true that Valbek Sweden was founded in Gothenburg and that is where the head office is. However, I live in Malmö (southern part of Sweden) so when I joined Valbek in January of 2023 we established the second branch in Malmö as well as two regions (South and West).

Soon after starting at Valbek I was lucky enough to be joined by five of my former colleagues. Since then we have added one more in Malmö and have signed another due to start in the fall. This makes the total for Malmö (eight) and for Valbek Sweden eleven employees.

We are excited to grow, however we are very careful about who we add to our teams. Good collaboration and teamwork is very important so we need to be sure that new colleagues will fit well into our established culture. So we are focusing on quality over quantity.

What projects is the Swedish Valbek working on now?

In Gothenburg our colleagues are collaborating with Kalanders and Valbek CZ in a local bridge design project. At the same time, there is a lot of planning work underway for a larger city planning project that will include a large rebuilding of a mixed-use city quarter.

In Malmö we are working with two large data centers in Denmark with a 3rd project scheduled to start in Sweden this month. This is an intense project and has occupied most of the team but given us a chance to work even closer together.  

e are also working in the final phases of the new hospital area in Malmö and are looking forward to new projects with the same customer after recently winning a framework contract with the regional healthcare entity.

In addition to this, we recently won another framework contract with a governmental energy company in the north of Sweden. We are looking forward to getting to know more about that project and that client.

Valbek’s goal is to be a digital pioneer in the Swedish construction market. Did you manage to implement any new solutions? Are you working on something like this now?

The digital world moves really quickly so we see it as our role to help our clients navigate through this and to help give them the right information so they can make the best decisions for their project and project goals. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our workflows and deliver better quality results.

For example, my colleague Brice has been in discussions with our colleagues in Ukraine on how to create automated solutions in Dynamo to improve management of data. Basel has built an FME script that helped to save time in checking the hundreds of files and thousands of drawings for another project. Basically if there is a better way to do something, we want to explore it!

Sweden wants to invest in railway infrastructure. Are there any tenders already announced, are you going to submit any bids to the government?

This is a big goal of ours but unfortunately we await more information from the new government on how the planned infrastructure projects will proceed.  

In the meantime we are looking to expand our team by adding key senior engineers from specific disciplines (for example, roads, water, geotechnical) so that we are better prepared to meet the requirements of the multi-disciplinary bids that will come in the future. This also puts us in a great position to better collaborate with our experienced colleagues in the rest of Valbek by having a direct connection between specific disciplines and the Swedish market.

Are you working on any projects with Czech or Slovak colleagues? How is your collaboration going? Can you learn from each other?

We are constantly impressed by the innovation and competency of all the Valbek colleagues we meet! We have had some small collaborations but look forward to bigger more long term opportunities. Most recently we met with the surveying department in Liberec and discussed a joint scanning venture for the data centers we are working with. This has the potential to increase in scope and expand to several other projects.  

I also really enjoyed the BIM Conference that took place last week at Krassa. I am certain that the information we shared and the contacts we made there will develop into concrete collaborations and projects going forward.

 

You have over 15 years of experience in the field, you have led large teams of designers. What brought you, personally, to Valbek? What do you like about the company?

Fredrik Öster (VD of Valbek Sweden) was my manager for many years in my previous employment. I enjoyed our collaboration and learned so much from him that when he approached me about joining Valbek, I was happy to get the chance to work together again.  Even more, I was drawn to the idea of putting digital processes at the core of our work and our people, our colleagues at the core of our business decisions.  

The more I learn about Valbek the more I see how my values and the company values are aligned which makes it such a pleasure to be a part of the building of Valbek Sweden.

Have you brought new colleagues to the company, interesting contacts or jobs that Valbek can work on?

We are ten now in Valbek Sweden and all of us have worked together previously. On one end we have a colleague who was a student worker a few years ago, all the way up to a colleague I have worked with now in three different companies. We have built a very strong foundation of respect and teamwork that we all value and are happy we can continue with here at Valbek!  

Since we have such a great team, it is no surprise that we have clients that have chosen to follow them to Valbek. The amazing work Owes and his team have done with our datacenter clients is proof of that as they are soon starting their 4th project with the same client.

In terms of contacts, all of us are looking forward to growing our team and our business through our network of shared contacts. The response we have gotten so far about our new roles and about Valbek Sweden has been very encouraging.

You are also working on a new hospital project in Malmö. Can you tell us more about it?

The New Malmö Hospital project is located in the middle of the city so it is rather iconic. The part I have been working with consists of three buildings: the largest being the Service Building housing labs, testing, waste management and storage. There is also a morgue which is connected to a renovated chapel as well as an old Administration building that has been carefully restored and updated for modern use.  

This has been a challenging and long project but I have learned a lot along the way. I feel it has been quite successful and I have made some great contacts and gotten to know some amazing people.

What do you think is the key to making Valbek a success in Sweden?

People and quality. If we as managers and leaders listen to our colleagues, have their best interests at heart and give them the best tools and knowledge to do their jobs, they will deliver quality and amazing results. If we take care of our people, they will take care of our projects and clients.  

I do think numbers are important, we are running a business, but they don’t tell the whole story. So I think the way that Valbek prioritizes its employees is why this company has been so successful and why Valbek Sweden will also succeed.

Mae is originally from Kansas City, Missouri where she grew up in father’s architectural studio. After five years in architecture school (and 6 months studying abroad in Prague) she moved to Sweden where she has been for the last 16 years.  

When she is not nerding out on BIM and things BIM-related, she loves to spend time in her garden with her husband, two Swedish/American children and her large fluffy cat.