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Elite Residence ... key roles for Doka and Lubeca.

Doka boosts prowess with key acquisition

01 October 2014

DOKA Group, the formwork technology division of Austria-based Umdasch, has acquired the formwork technology department of Australian construction company Grocon, a move that is expected to strengthen its presence in the emerging markets, including the Middle East and East Asia.

With this geographic expansion, Doka acquired the formwork patent for Lubeca Jumpform, an automatic climbing formwork, along with employees and a project portfolio from Grocon.

The new subsidiary will be known as Lubeca Australia, with registered offices in Melbourne, Australia.

Lubeca’s range of operation extends from the primary Australian market to the Middle East, as well as Singapore, Malaysia and India. In these markets, Lubeca Jumpform is the chosen formwork system in many building projects, said Doka. Its technical capacity ensures rapid and efficient work processes while providing a high level of safety. Hence, the formwork system is highly competitive and predestined for emerging markets as well as markets where safety, high load-bearing capacity and short forming-times are very important. The system is used primarily in residential construction and for building concrete cores of office towers and tall multi-purpose structures.

“The integration of the Lubeca platform system will offer customers an expanded product portfolio and, therefore, provide an even greater competitive edge for Doka and Lubeca,” said Johann Strunz, Doka CEO in charge of overseas markets.

“Lubeca customers will continue to be able to benefit from the advantages offered by the Jumpform. At the same time, they are able to access the added range of wall and floor systems as well as complementary formwork services from Doka wherever the Lubeca portfolio needs to be supplemented.

“Consequently, both Doka and Lubeca benefit from this integration. Our diversity offers customers a broad range of formwork systems and ideal solutions for any customer requirement and structure. This acquisition is a valuable complement,” he added.

In the Middle East, Doka and Lebeca have worked on the same projects – albeit independent of each other – on developments such as the Elite Residence in Dubai Marina, where Doka provided the slabs and columns, and Lubeca the Jumpform. “In the future, construction companies will be able to obtain formwork systems from Doka and Lubeca in a way that is even more precisely targeted to their needs,” Strunz said.

Doka is a family-owned Austrian company dating back nearly 150 years. It has grown from a regional craftsman’s business to becoming an internationally leading supplier of end-to-end formwork solutions. Today, the global player’s current worldwide network includes a total of 160 sales and logistics facilities in 70 countries.