1. LACTOGAL - DAIRY PLANT AT MODIVAS, VILA DO CONDE,
PORTUGAL 1999-2003
A project of Krister Pettersson, M.Sc. contracted as Adviser and Resident Engineer to Lactogal SA.
!
Independent civil engineering consultant Krister
Pettersson was contracted as an advisor, project
co-ordinator and resident engineer by the dairy
cooperative organization Lactogal SA, for the
realization of a large dairy plant project close to
Oporto, Portugal, finished in 2004. The largest
dairy plant project in Europe, the plant is of 50
000 m2 and processes 1,6 million liters of UHT
milk daily. Process suppliers were Tetra Pak with
Siemens Dematic for the automatic high storage.
During four years, virtually all aspects of dairy
plant design and building construction were
penetrated. Cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary
understanding helped the introduction of
substantial improvements.
MODIFICATIONS-IMPROVEMENTS
As can be imagined from the photos, a number of
modifications to the design and function of the
new dairy plant were introduced as initialized by
Krister Pettersson. A few of them were:
!BUILDINGS
Joint-free ceramic flooring
The higher part on the right of the building
complex is the two-storied process area. The
heavy loaded upper floor area here, about 27 x
130 m, is completely free of joints in the ceramic
flooring on a concrete structure. This could be
/1 2H Krister Pettersson, M.Sc,Lactogal SA, Modivas Portugal
BEFORE AFTER
The mock-up from 1999 of the intended new dairy
plant for Lactogal SA at Modivas, Vila do Conde,
some 20 km to the North of Oporto, Portugal
This photo from 2003 shows the dairy plant about to be
finished. Some changes in relation to original plant design are
described in the text. Below the latest design drawing, facade
and plan, of the realized dairy plant.
Text

2. achieved by casting the heavy-duty concrete slab with a methodology avoiding the need of expansion or
construction joints producing only micro-cracks in the concrete. Then a combination of ceramic tiles and
fixing compound was carefully chosen for certain flexibility with the aim of resisting the small movements
in the micro-cracks of the concrete.
The resulting joint-free flooring is
highly appreciated for hygiene,
resistance and easy maintenance.
!Building shell
Apart from the new color (Swedish
Falu-red was such a fresh contrast to
the surrounding green nature, said the
architect, Mr. Brito) the photos show
that the inclinations of the various
roofs have been increased and some
of the height differences between
building parts eliminated. Much of
the roof drainage is centralized to one
single, large roof drainage canal
This means that the risk for rain-
water leakage has been reduced and
maintenance facilitated, as a number
of risky joints and water
accumulations on the roofs have
disappeared.
!EXTERNALAREAS
Water supply for the dairy plant
processes is mainly obtained from
own, drilled wells on the land, also a
few below the proper buildings.
!Large amounts of rainwater from the
roofs and hardened areas must be led
away to recipients. Originally, very
large diameter drainage pipes were
planned for this purpose.
!Krister could, however, introduce a
more environmentally friendly design
by building three large rain-water
dams on the ground to serve the
double purpose of reservoirs and
infiltration dams.
!With these reservoir dams, rainwater
pipe dimensions could be much
reduced. A certain infiltration of rain
and superficial water would help
replenish groundwater wells and the
dams would serve also for watering
and fire water supply. Finally an
environmentally healthier and more
diversified landscaping would be more
agreeable to both beast and man.
kp@gransloskompetens.se +46 76 2797885 Krister Pettersson
/2 2H Krister Pettersson, M.Sc,Lactogal SA, Modivas Portugal