Fast-Beam - Novel modular repair and newbuilding system for concrete bridges

Project Information

FASTSCALE

Grant agreement ID: 743965

DOI

10.3030/743965

Project closed

EC signature date 19 November 2016

Start date 1 December 2016

End date 31 May 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

FAST BEAM OY
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FASTSCALE (Fast-Beam - Novel modular repair and newbuilding system for concrete bridges)

Reporting period: 2016-12-01 to 2017-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Concrete bridge repair is the fastest growing infrastructure business globally. In Europe alone there are tens of thousands of bridges in need of repair. The constantly increasing maintenance backlog is huge, and cannot be handled by traditional bridge repair methods in a manner that is fast, safe and cost effective enough. There is an urgent need for modern solutions that could replace the traditional slow, waste producing, material consuming and labour intensive conventional methods

Fast Beam is a rapidly growing SME operating in the field of bridge repair and building. The company has developed a modular repair system for concrete bridge edges, with clear, demonstrated benefits compares with the traditional methods: e.g over 50 % reduction in labour, over 50 % reduction in net work duration and up to 90 % reduction of non-recyclable waste. Fast Beam’s game changing system innovation will offer construction value chain participants significant savings in time and cost, better ROI & productivity and sustainability as well as improved safety & ergonomics. The global market potential for Fast Beam’s patented system is vast, and the company is now ready to make a market entry into European countries. FASTSCALE project studied the bridge repair market particularly in Germany and the Nordic countries. Major barriers for market entry to these markets were not discovered during the study.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project, several pilot cases were conducted in order to validate latest developments into the Fast Beam system as well as to demonstrate the Fast Beam system/method in Sweden. Comprehensive market study was conducted for German markets with competitor, stakeholder and value chain analyses. Regarding the standards and legislation, no major barriers for market entry were recognised. Based on the results of the market study, the market entry strategy and consequent financial forecast were updated. Dissemination activities included presenting Fast Beam as a showcase in WEF 2017 Women Economic Forum in May 2017 in New Delhi, India as well as numerous international visitors at Fast Beam’s showroom in Finland.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The use of Fast Beam will result in significant overall savings for tax payers and a productivity & safety leap for infrastructure construction. The prices of the contracts and resources vary greatly between different countries, as infrastructure construction is highly country-specific and local. However, in many cases and countries the public sector is the ultimate payer of bridge repair projects. This means that the public economy will benefit from the Fast Beam method, as public spending diminishes if Fast Beam is used in bridge repairs. Fluent traffic will further affect the societal functionality and direct & indirect spending. Studies show that indirect costs of bridge repairing often exceed the direct ones. For example, on a global scale, International Association of Public Transport estimates that road congestion costs the economy about 1% of the GDP, so all measures to reduce traffic congestion will have substantial economic benefits.

Fast Beam demonstration in Sweden