Ferrovial’s Polish subsidiary, Budimex, has completed the PKN Orlen R&D Center located in Plock, one of the oldest cities in Poland. The main goal of this research center is to develop the refining and petrochemical industry, implement new technical solutions and carry out work on new technologies and products. The complex will also study how to improve and optimize existing processes.
Seven hundred cubic meters of concrete, 180 kilometers of cabling, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 22 kilometers of piping were required for Budimex to complete and hand over the Research and Development Center to the investor PKN ORLEN.
“Three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty is the steel that has been used to build the facility,” as Artur Popko, Chairman of the Board of Budimex, explains. Popko believes that, as a general contractor with extensive experience, “Budimex has met all the expectations of a technological and timely investor, as the complex of buildings that are part of the R&D Center had to be adapted to the research specificities of the refining and petrochemical industry and meet the highest construction requirements.”
A turnkey project
The complex, which is located on an area of 43,000 m2 that can be expanded in the future, consists of eight facilities. It includes office and industrial buildings that combine the function of research and storage, technical building with laboratory, research and test facilities (with a mapping and pilot room with an area of almost 2000 m2), and also a test and raw materials warehouse. As part of the investment, an external warehouse with a facility for the preparation of fuel blends was created, as well as an office building, which is the administrative facilities of the entire complex and all the necessary technical infrastructure.
The construction work carried out by Budimex also included the implementation of infrastructure accompanying the buildings: internal roads, parking lots and maneuvering facilities. Budimex’s task, in addition to construction, involved equipping the Center’s buildings on a turnkey basis with the commissioning of the supplied equipment, materials and laboratory instruments.
The value of the contract signed in April 2019 was approximately PLN 167 million net (EUR 36,923,700) and was managed under the EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) formula.
PKN Orlen is a European oil refining company and a retailer of petroleum products. It is considered the first publicly listed company in Poland and has major operations in Germany and the Baltic States.
The investment consists of eight facilities. The complex of office and industrial buildings combining the research and storage function includes a technical building with a laboratory, research and test facilities with a pilot and mapping room, all in an area of nearly 2000 m2, and buildings for a warehouse that will house testing and raw materials. As part of the investment, an external warehouse was also created with a facility for preparing fuel mixtures and an office building, which is where the administrative facilities of the entire complex and all the necessary technical infrastructure are located. The construction work done by Budimex also included implementing infrastructure that accompanies the buildings: internal roads, parking lots, and maneuvering facilities. CBR covers an area of 43,000 m2. The spare field space will allow for expanding the facility in the future.
– The Centre is supplied with environmentally-friendly electricity. The property is equipped with modern self-cleaning photovoltaic panels and a shed (total 94 kWp) and a wind turbine that produces green energy with 2800 W of power. There is also a charging station for electric vehicles, says Artur Popko, Board Chair of Budimex. “As part of the work, an educational path was also created where we will find interactive facilities. Among these, we’ll discover the importance of fuels and chemistry in our lives and directions for developing this significant area of life, information walls or tables, and even a spatial periodic table of the elements,” Artur Popko adds.
The high-tech surface allows for flexible installation of testing facilities up to 15 meters high. The complex also includes a high- and low-temperature climate chamber, an engine dynamometer station, and high-tech facilities located in the so-called media generation belt, including two cooling towers, a boiler room for containers and a compressor, a nitrogen tank, and water treatment stations.
