Skanska

Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established in Malmö, Sweden, in 1887 by Rudolf Fredrik Berg and started by manufacturing concrete products. It quickly diversified into a construction company and within ten years the company received its first international order. The company played an important role in building Sweden's infrastructure including its roads, power plants, offices and housing.

Growth in Sweden was followed by international expansion. In the mid-1950s Skånska Cementgjuteriet made a major move into international markets. During the next decades, it entered South America, Africa and Asia, and in 1971 the United States market, where it today ranks among the largest in its sector. The company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange A-list in 1965. In 1984, the name "Skanska," already in general use internationally, became the group's official name.

During the latter part of the 1990s, Skanska expanded substantially both organically and by acquisition. In August 2000, it bought the construction division of Kvaerner.

In mid-2004, Skanska decided to divest its Asian investments and sold its Indian subsidiary to the Thailand based construction firm Italian Thai Development Company.

In 2011, Skanska acquired Industrial Contractors, Inc of Evansville, Indiana, United States.

Skanska divides its operations into four business streams:

Construction is the largest business stream by revenue and number of employees. The operations of the other business streams involve investments in projects that are developed and later divested. With regard to infrastructure development, this often involves public–private partnerships (PPP). Geographically, the group operates based on local business units.

Skanska USA

Skanska established its presence in the United States through acquisitions of established local companies. The legacy company names were initially cobranded (ex. Slattery-Skanska). In 2007, Skanska introduced a plan to integrate and rebrand the majority of the acquired entities under the Skanska USA banners. Entities were united by business sector, geographic region, and district. Three regions were formed: Northeast, Southeast, and Western.

Environment

Skanska was the No. 1 "Green Builder" in the United States in 2007 and was ranked No. 3 "Green Contractor" in the United States 2008. In 2011, Skanska was ranked the greenest company in the United Kingdom, despite belonging to an industry with a generally high environmental impact. In 2014, Skanska won the Financial Times and ArcelorMittal "Boldness in Business Award" in the category "corporate responsibility/environment."

Controversies

In 1996, Skanska was entrusted with the building of a "state-of-the-art" general hospital, Mater Dei Hospital, costing over €700,000,000 in Malta. Later, however, it was discovered that Skanska had used lower-quality cement of the kind that is generally used to build pavements. As a result, the hospital could not develop further floors or build a helipad on the roof. The company had limited liability within the contract.

A scandal broke out in 1997 when it was learned that a poisonous sealing compound Rhoca-Gil was used during construction of a railway tunnel, Hallandsås Tunnel, in southern Sweden. This substance was linked to the death of nearby livestock. Rhoca-Gil contains acrylamide, a toxic chemical that is mutagenic and possibly carcinogenic. Skanska took no special precautions for the sealant, nor did it tell its own workers or the local population of the risks. By October 1997, local cattle and fish started dying and workers were becoming ill. After tests were done showing high levels of acrylamide contamination, the site was declared a high risk zone and the sale of agricultural products from the region was banned. Skanska, along with Rhone-Poulenc and Swedish Railways all had criminal charges brought against them; some senior executives resigned as a result. Construction was halted in late 1997, but resumed in 2005 after hydrological and environmental remediation by Banverket and Skanska.

In 2005, Skanska was awarded a large natural gas pipeline contract in Argentina. In 2007, the company was implicated in reports of bribery involving illegal payments to government officials relating to the project award. Six former Skanska managers plus a former consultant were arrested for tax evasion. Skanska performed its own investigation, dismissing seven staff, and worked closely with the authorities concerning the inquiry. Later bribery allegations related to a pipeline for Petrobras in Brazil, prompting Skanska to be barred from bidding for work for two years by the Brazilian government, and to withdraw completely from operations in South America.

Skanska-owned UK business Kværner/Trafalgar House Plc was involved with the UK's Consulting Association, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist; Skanska was reported to be the industry's most prolific user of the Consulting Association's services, spending over £28,000 on top of a £3,000 annual subscription. Later, Skanska was among eight businesses who launched the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme in 2014, condemned as a "PR stunt" by the GMB union, and described by the Scottish Affairs Select Committee as "an act of bad faith". In December 2017, union Unite announced it had issued high court proceedings against four former chairmen of the Consulting Association, included Skanska's former director of industrial relations, Stephen Quant, alleging breach of privacy, defamation and Data Protection Act offences. Unite also said it was taking action against 12 major contractors including Skanska.

In December 2013, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed that Skanska DS a.s. participated in a bid rigging cartel of construction companies (together with companies of Strabag group and Mota-Engil group) in 2004. Illegal conduct was associated with the tender for the execution of works for the construction of the D1 highway from Mengusovce to Jánovce in eastern Slovakia.

On September 16, 2020, Skanska failed to secure 20 barges at and around their Pensacola Bay Bridge site in Florida ahead of the impending Hurricane Sally. Numerous barges made contact with the newly constructed bridge destroying large segments of it, leaving the bridge impassable and unsafe to drive on. This bridge is a crucial economic artery for the Pensacola-Gulf Breeze area; over 55,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. The inability for many individuals to commute to their jobs, homes, and businesses have had a detrimental impact on the area. Among the rogue barges, many washed ashore in residents yards and on roadways. As of September 22, Skanska has failed to address the disaster with the public.