Team Profile – Bjorn’s Global Experience

Have you met Bjorn Jachmann, one of our Directors? Our team comes from diverse backgrounds with experience on a large spectrum of projects. Bjorn’s experience spans multiple countries and some very interesting projects.

Bjorn started his career in Germany. Some of his most notable projects include a large research centre for a hospital, the new exhibition centre in Munich, and inspection of an 80 metre high chimney structure for a power station. Chimneys, such as this, can (scarily) sway with the wind. Bjorn was involved in the installation of a damper (a large cylinder at the top of the chimney with weights) to counteract movement of the chimney.

Bjorn was also involved in developing a container that was self-moving from train carriage to truck. This eliminated the need for cranes and changed how train transportation was managed in Germany.

Different countries and climates bring different challenges. There are still thousands of tons of unexploded bombs from World War II in Germany. Therefore bomb detection units have to inspect all sites prior to construction beginning. For Bjorn, this was just a part of the process, however at one site in Munich they encountered a problem. The project was refurbishing an old bridge erected in the 1950s to handle a higher load capacity. A bomb was detected while piles were being driven into the ground. The entire site was evacuated and the roads closed for 2 days to disarm and remove the bomb.

In addition to bomb detection, Bjorn also had to consider concrete cancer caused from salt being used on snow in building basements and on roads. Bjorn was involved in fixing a major ring road in Germany that contained concrete cancer caused from salt penetrating the road surface.

Bjorn also worked in Greece, on the main airport in Athens. Bjorn was responsible for the Structural Engineering and coordinating subcontractors. Working in earthquake prone areas, such as Athens, requires innovative and smart engineering. Athens Airport has 20 metre high columns that sway in earthquakes. The roof structure was engineered with shock absorbers to stop the roof shaking through an earthquake. This is an effective engineering solution being used worldwide.

Throughout Bjorn’s 25 year career, he has also worked in the Philippines (on a major brick and cement factory) and in Poland. Most recently, Bjorn completed a project in West Papua for Russell Mineral Equipment. Bjorn understands cultural differences and fluently adapts to those differences to ensure smooth running of projects regardless of the location.

Next time you’re in the office, ask Bjorn about some of his most interesting projects – even the non-engineers will find it fascinating!