WSP Group – engineering consultants

WSP Sweden

Vällingby, Sweden

When it opened in 1954, the municipal centre of Vällingby in Stockholm received much praise for its unique architecture and contemporary social planning. Fifty years on, the public housing corporation Svenska Bostäder has initiated an £200M renewal project, which will include new housing, offices, shops and car parking for the municipal centre.

Vällingby, Sweden

New systems design
WSP has worked alongside Svenska Bostäder for many years, and was entrusted to produce new inventory and programming documentation for the power, telecoms and transport systems for the entire renewal project. This also included systems design and tendering documentation for temporary premises during the construction phase, for Vällingby itself and for the new loading bays under the centre.

Modern standards in 50s environment
Throughout the project the aim has been to maintain an authentic 1950s environment, modified to contemporary requirements. For example, Vällingby is re-creating a 1950s-style two-storey food court, with some 15 restaurants and cafés.  WSP is participating in the renovation of a major office building, updating its 1950s style to satisfy current standards of comfort and efficiency.

Business as usual during redevelopment
The redevelopment of this municipal centre, which is almost like a town in itself, is a very extensive and complex project.  One of the challenges for WSP’s power consultants is to work around all the activities of the centre, which will remain in full swing during the conversion period, albeit with some stores being relocated to temporary accommodation for a time. This necessitates extremely thorough planning to replace the old systems without disrupting business in the offices and shops. The fact that all the development work is taking place above subway tracks is another major consideration.

Related Sectors