History

The expansion of Skrydstrup Air base was a huge project for Arkil's tiny construction company. All of the company's employees toiled around the clock to complete the project on time.

 

The important NO

The bank, on the other hand did not. The company had burned through its credit, and with it, the bank's patience. This meant that Ove would not have access to the 20,000 Danish kroner he needed to borrow to purchase equipment and materials, even though he was able to document that the company took in enough revenue and would be able to repay the bank. It was only when a local manufacturer put up collateral security that Ove was able to obtain the necessary funds. And so the adventure began!

Wind beneath the wings

The Skrydstrup project was only the beginning. The Danish Armed Forces desperately needed to expand the country's military air base installations, so that they would meet the requirements of the newly created NATO. After Skrydstrup, other large-scale expansion projects were put out to tender in the towns of Vandel, Karup, Tirstrup and Værløse. As Ove recalls, "The head of the Defence Construction Service apparently must have taken a liking to us, as he recommended us to those in charge to continue our work." Back then, projects were awarded to companies that had not collaborated with the occupying German forces, which meant Ove Arkil's 'no' in 1944 turned out to be the key to his company's success.

Advertisement from 1951. Concrete slabs were a new invention in the 1950s. Ove Arkil drove all the way from Denmark to the Netherlands to purrchase the casting machine. His 12-year-old son, Niels Ove, accompanied him on the trip.

221 km natural gas pipeline

In the mid-1970s, CEO Niels Arkil was contacted by a French company, Entrepose, which specialised in building natural gas pipelines. Entrepose knew that the Danish government was preparing to put a project out to tender involving the construction of a primary natural gas pipeline that would span the entire length of the Jutland Peninsula. And now they were looking for a Danish business partner.

"It was a huge project for a company like ours at the time, and when Entrepose contacted us, my initial reaction was that there was no way we were up to the task," Niels Arkil recalls.

But the two companies stayed in contact, and at the end of the '70s, when Entrepose was awarded a major contract in France, Ove Arkil hired engineer Børge Jørgensen, who was assigned the task of specialising in precisely this type of project.

"We taught him French and sent him to France for six months so that he could learn from Entrepose. It was his job to pass on his knowledge to us when we visited him every three weeks," Niels recounts.

A valuable lesson

The lessons Børge learned proved valuable. In 1980, the newly formed joint company, Arkil-Entrepose, went to work and began constructing the 93 km natural gas pipeline, which stretched northwards from the German-Danish border to the town of Egtved. Perhaps not surprisingly, the fact that this small, unknown company was awarded the contract ahead of some of the biggest and most famous Danish consortia attracted little media attention.

The company was so successful in completing the project that, in 1985, it was contracted to construct the next stretch of the pipeline, which would run 128 km from Egtved to Viborg.

Even though the work demanded a great number of resources, in the 1980s Ove Arkil launched the wave of acquisitions that has essentially characterised the company ever since. In 1983, the companies Viborg Entreprenørbyg and B. Møller Gregersen became part of the Ove Arkil Group, which went on to acquire the Birkerød-based construction firm Brdr. Andersen in 1985, and then purchased shares in a related company, Brdr A & B Andersen in 1986.

In 1987, Arkil acquired the companies Clausen & Mikkelsen and Fyns Jordbor, which specialised in foundation projects. Eventually, these two acquisitions formed the basis of today's Arkil Fundering.

Enviromental expertise

In 1986, Ove Arkil was awarded its first large-scale environmental project, which was also the first of its kind in Denmark. The project, which involved decontaminating a chemical depot in the town of Skrydstrup, Denmark, was closely monitored by the media and government officials. It was an exciting new venture for the company, which had this to say about it in its annual report: "The project provided the company with valuable know-how, and we are now able to offer subcontracts, general contracts and full-line solutions to national, regional and municipal government agencies in this important field."

The environmental projects continued to come in to such an extent that, in 1988, Ove Arkil established a nationwide environmental division.

Viva España!

Spain finally escaped the grip of the Franco dictatorship in 1975, and the 1980s brought about a decade of heavy growth in the construction sector. The Costa del Sol region was the epicentre of the construction boom, as foreign tourists now had the chance to build and own homes there.

The Costa del Sol presented a wealth of opportunities, and Ove Arkil was not late to the party.

 

Ove Arkil was ready to take advantage of opportunities beyond the Danish border, and in 1986 the company established Ove Arkil España, which bought up land to construct buildings with Spanish style and Danish quality ‒ and the first 16 terraced houses built by the company were sold instantly. The flurry of building activity abated in the 1990s, and Ove Arkil España was closed at the end of the decade.

New headquarters

The company headquarters were moved from the old location in Haderslev to the new and modern surroundings at Søndergård Alle 4, near the Hammelev Motorway. The old office was put up for sale.

Also in 2015, Arkil A/S opened a new office in Odense, Denmark, in order to be closer to the large-scale infrastructure projects in and around the city that are expected to be launched in the coming years.

The Arkil Group will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2016.