Leading Latvian industrial manufacturer, Forta PRO, and South Korea’s Samsung C&T have joined forces to become ‘a leading global modular construction company’, marking ambitious development plans both in Latvia and overseas.
Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group is engaged in residential, office, industrial building infrastructure and power plant construction, had a total turnover of USD 10 bn billion (£8.2 bn) in 2021, and employs around 5,500 staff. Among its most notable completed projects are skyscrapers including the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the Mersey Gateway in the UK, the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia, and Busan Newport in South Korea.
Forta PRO is a 400-strong modular construction company which focuses on export markets, and specialises in building high-rise, large-scale modular buildings. With production facilities in Jelgava and Ventspils in Latvia, it has won awards and achieved recognition at several international construction industry competitions. The two companies say their recent decision to join forces is driven by their ambition to ‘scale and advance modular construction technology’. They said: “This collaboration marks an important step to combine and merge two companies’ industrial know-how and experience, that can turn around conventional construction market practices in Latvia and beyond. By combining our export flows, it will be possible to substantially increase our production capacities in Latvia, boost the value of our exported products, and expand the two businesses’ international reach.” Forta PRO and Samsung C&T says the resulting business expansion will have a significant impact on jobs creation in Latvia, exchange of technological know-how and knowledge, and automation of construction processes, while also serving as an important signal to the international investor community.
The two companies are planning to launch and operate modular construction factories worldwide, ‘increasing the presence of the highly value-added Latvian knowledge-based production in the global construction markets.
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Forta PRO manufactures modular units suitable for the construction of hotels, residential buildings, student accommodation, ‘built to rent’ apartments, hospitals, clinics, bathroom PODs, and ‘many other applications. It said: “Modular construction methods allow for ecologically clean and sustainable buildings, while saving energy and time, with minimal disruption to surrounding facilities’ operation.”