PORTUGAL - BEST ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS 2017
Every year the “Construir” magazine awards several prizes to Portuguese companies and individuals, in recognition for their effort, talent and achievements within the engineering and construction industry.
At this year’s 10th edition, COBA was nominated in two categories: Best Engineering Design, with the “Foz Tua” Dam Design, and Best Engineering Consultants. We were honoured to win in the category of “Best Engineering Consultants 2017”!
This award reflects the commitment and effort of an entire team that, through perseverance and spirit of sacrifice, was able to overcome obstacles, reap the benefits of its accomplishments and earn the acknowledgement of its peers.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
PORTUGAL - LEADER SME
Also during November, COBA – Consultores de Engenharia e Ambiente, S.A. was distinguished as Leader SME (PME Líder) by IAPMEI, the Portuguese institute for support to small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation.
This status is a corporate reputation label created by IAPMEI to distinguish the merit of national SMEs with excellent performance based on best rating and economic & financial indicators.
A set of benefits is associated with this award, such as increased access to financial products and a network of services, enables a privileged relationship with bank institutions and comprises a quality certificate for companies in their relationship with the market.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
PORTUGAL WATER AWARDS 2017– KHOLOMBIDZO
COBA was distinguished in the Category "Services" of the Portugal Water Awards 2017, promoted by the journal “Jornal Água & Ambiente” and the Portuguese Water Partnership. These awards reward internationalization initiatives and distinguish the best projects undertaken abroad by Portuguese companies.
The Kholombidzo Hydro Electric Power Plant Feasibility Study was the first project awarded to COBA in Malawi, a country in an African region where the company has actively been seeking for new business opportunities. As such it is a project of particular relevance, not only because it is a first experience in a geography where the company wishes to affirm itself, but also due to financing by the African Development Bank, a multilateral institution that promotes several projects in the region.
The contract was awarded after a tendering process that involved a pre-qualification phase with very strong competition from leading international companies in the energy sector, such as Fitchner, AECOM, Poyry, Norconsult and Norplan.
LandCOBA – one of the Group’s companies - was responsible for the acquisition of base mapping, resorting to satellite images and LIDAR surveys.
The training component of the project involved a two-week visit to Portugal of senior Malawian officials. Several meetings were held with relevant entities of the Portuguese energy sector (EDP, REN, ERSE ...), with the purpose of presenting the national panorama of the sector and establish contacts for possible future cooperation.
The Project was developed using BIM technology, which is at an initial phase of implementation in the company and made it possible to assess, for the first time, the potential and productivity gains associated with this tool. Finally, mention to the selection of the project as one of the 50 runners-up, in a universe of 400 applications from 50 different countries, of Bentley’s Be Inspired Awards, in the Power Generation category. This event acknowledges the advances made in the use of BIM in design, construction and operation of infrastructures.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
ANGOLA - COBA GROUP ACTIVELY COMMITTED TO IMPROVING ROAD INFRASTRUCTURES
COBA Angola is providing for Angola’s Ministry for Construction (Ministério da Construção de Angola) the supervision services within the scope of the Upgrading of (National Road) NR321 - section between Maria Teresa and Dondo. This is an intervention of utmost importance, as this is one of Angola’s principal roads, being the main access road to the construction sites of the large hydropower projects currently underway in the Kwanza River. In addition it comprises a major outlet for agricultural goods produced in this region.
The construction works – undertaken by the Chinese company CTCE (China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group) - amount to 335 million Kwanzas (€ 1.8 million) and have an envisaged duration of 14 months.
Another project of significant importance for the city of Luanda is the reformulation of the Samba Interchange with Avenue Pedro de Castro Van-Duném Loy. The COBA Group was responsible for the engineering design and construction works will be carried out by Tecnovia Angola for the Ministry of Construction.
The reformulation of this interchange, in addition to contributing towards the resolution of the problematic bottlenecks that daily affect thousands of citizens that circulate in Luanda, already envisages integration of the future Light Surface Rail Network, as one of the main measures of the Angolan executive to ease traffic congestion in the Angolan capital.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
GERMANY - INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING HANNOVER WORKSHOP
Luís Gézero, collaborator of LandCOBA and currently engaged in his doctorate research at the Faculty of Sciences of the Lisbon University, presented two posters at the Annual Workshop of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), held in Hannover, Germany, between 6 and 9 June. The topics covered were "AN EFFICIENT METHOD TO CREATE DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS FROM POINT CLOUDS COLLECTED BY MOBILE LiDAR SYSTEMS" and "THE REGISTRATION METHOD OF POINT CLOUDS COLLECTED BY MOBILE TO DEAL USING SOLELY STANDARD LAS FILES INFORMATION".
These interventions substantiate LandCOBA’s trend for continuous and systematic knowledge acquisition and follow-up of the state of the art in its fields of activity, and reveal its capability to interact with its peers at the highest national and international forums.
These papers have already been published and are available in the International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
BRAZIL – PAVEMENT PROJECT IN MATO GROSSO
CONSULSTRADA was responsible for the preparation of the Pavement Project integrated in the detailed engineering design for the Fluidity Works of Rodovia dos Imigrantes BR-070. This road infrastructure is also designated as the ring road of the City of Cuiabá, which is the capital of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Since the geometric design has necessarily to safeguard connections with the existing layout, in particular in its surroundings, as well as to maintain levels as approximate as possible to the existing ones, due to the other components of the highway, in particular drainage devices, the design of new pavement structures revealed to be the most efficient solution.
Heavy vehicle traffic is very high on this road, which in itself implies that the structures developed in this project should have substantial thicknesses. In order to minimize the thicknesses of bituminous layers, design options fell upon semi-rigid pavements.
Lx, 30 Nov 2017
