New director to advance the Femern project amid delays and conflicts
British Guy Taylor takes over the leadership of the world's longest immersed tunnel, while the project struggles with technical challenges, billion-dollar claims, and a tight schedule.
The Fehmarn construction has a new manager. Photo: Sund & Belt
When British Guy Taylor takes up his position tomorrow as the new project director for the Fehmarn Belt project, it happens in the midst of a construction process marked by delays, disputes, and technical challenges. He replaces Henrik Vincentsen, who has led the Fehmarn Belt project in recent years, but now hands over the position as the project faces its most crucial phase.
- We are entering a new phase of the Fehmarn Belt project, where we need to collaborate in a new way with our contractors to move the project forward together. This requires new skills in project management, and we are pleased that we have been able to attract one of the very best in the world as the new project director, says Sund & Bælt's CEO, Mikkel Hemmingsen, in a press release.
Brings international tunnel experience
Guy Taylor is a British citizen but has been both married and living in Denmark for several years. He is a trained engineer and has led major projects such as the Cityringen in Copenhagen, the Söderström Tunnel in Stockholm, and worked on the English Channel link between England and France. Most recently, he has held a leading role in the transport authorities in Singapore.
Guy Taylor
- The Fehmarn Belt tunnel will be a game changer that will bind Denmark and Central Europe closer together for generations. I look forward to contributing my experience with international contractors and projects and to driving the Fehmarn Belt project forward together with the strong team from Sund & Bælt, says Guy Taylor in connection with his appointment.
A project under massive pressure
The appointment comes at a time when Denmark's largest construction project in history is facing significant challenges. The work to submerge the many tunnel elements has not yet begun, and the project is currently looking at several years of delay. The specially built Ivy vessels, which are to place the tunnel elements on the seabed, still lack final approval, and the tunnel trench has been rejected by the contractor Femern Link Contractors.
At the same time, Femern Link Contractors have raised a billion-dollar claim against the client Femern A/S. The claim of 14.5 billion kroner relates to delayed access to the tunnel trench and comes on top of an ongoing arbitration case about corona delays amounting to 570 million kroner.
A change amidst upheaval
Henrik Vincentsen, who is now leaving the position, expresses pride in having led the project through the first part of the construction phase.
- I am proud to have led the first phase of Denmark's largest construction project in history. We have solved many challenges along the way, and more await ahead, but the project is in good hands among some of the world's most skilled specialists, he says.
For Sund & Bælt, the leadership change is about bringing new energy and international experience to the organisation in a phase where the work is moving from casting in Rødbyhavn to the actual submersion in the Fehmarn Belt.
