Doka is an international producer and supplier of

formwork Formwork is Molding (process), molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast concrete, precast or cast-in-place concrete, cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering mold ...

used in all fields of the construction sector. It is a branch of the Umdasch Group AG ( JSC) based in Amstetten,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Doka has a worldwide workforce of 7,400, with 160 branches in 60 countries. The consolidated revenues of the Umdasch Group AG amounted to 1411 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s in 2020.

History

Doka, umdasch The Store Makers and Umdasch Group Ventures make up the Umdasch Group AG with its headquarters located in Amstetten, Austria. In 1868 Stefan Hopferwieser founded the company St. & A. Hopferwieser as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

in the town of Kollmitzberg. During the first 80 years of the company, the company had diversified into

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

wood and metal

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

, producing among others

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

home appliances A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...

, metal hardware and

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

. In 1949, the engineer Josef Umdasch, who was married to Mathilde Hopferwieser (granddaughter of Stefan Hopferwieser) became the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the company rebuilding and restructuring it. Josef Umdasch had been a board member of the company since 1939. In the 1950s prefabricated formwork production and store fitting production arms of the company crystallized into the two modern branches within the

corporate group A corporate group or group of companies is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. These types of groups are often managed by an account manager. The concep ...

. In 1961 the corporate group was renamed to Umdasch KG. After Josef Umdasch retired his children Hilde and Alfred Umdasch directed the company.

Doka

In 1958 the company branch Doka was founded. The company founding and company name are interlinked with their first product and projects. In Austria in the 1950s, large infrastructural construction was underway including several hydro electrical

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s. The dams were being built on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

river (Donau) and its tributaries by the Austrian utility "Donaukraftwerke" or DOKW for short, translating as 'Danube power stations'. Because of the great size of these structures, traditional timber beam formwork was too labor-intensive to form the large walls. Thus a large scale systematic and reusable formwork was developed, with the wooden formwork panels being produced and shipped from the Amstetten company. Originally the DOKW was the delivery address, but then became the product name (DOKW boards). Linguistic usage slurred DOKW into DOKA, which became the name of the newly founded company. In 1961 the first subsidiary was established in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, followed in 1977 by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. Since then Doka has grown to service countries in all inhabited continents, particularly in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the Middle East, and in the English speaking countries Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. Doka has a well established office in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Product and service overview

The formwork products, systems and design service include formwork panels, slab formwork, wall formwork, one-sided wall formwork,

climbing formwork Climbing formwork, also known as jumpform, is a special type formwork for vertical concrete structures that rises with the building process. While relatively complicated and costly, it can be an effective solution for buildings that are either ver ...

, tunnel formwork, dam formwork, bridge formwork (cast-in-place balanced cantilever

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, concrete

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

and steel combination bridge formwork), shoring / falsework, tie systems and field support, software and training. Doka’s business is based on a combination of production, equipment sale & rental, engineering and maintenance. Most of the formwork production takes place at Doka's central plant in Amstetten. The Doka three-ply sheets are made in the branch plant in

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Projects

Projects built using Doka Formwork * One Dalton Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA *

Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge (known as the New Mississippi River Bridge until its formal naming in 2013 and informally known as the "Stan Span") is a bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States between St. Clair County, ...

, Missouri, USA * Aria on the Bay, Miami, USA * Hudson Yards, New York City, USA *

220 Central Park South 220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South was designed by Rob ...

, New York City, USA * Wanda Vista, Chicago, USA *

Brickell City Centre Brickell City Centre is a large mixed-use complex consisting of two residential high-rise towers, two office buildings, a high-rise hotel, and an interconnected five-story shopping mall and lifestyle center covering located in the Brickell dis ...

, Miami, USA * 432 Park Ave, New York City, USA * 56 Leonard Street, New York City, USA *

Three World Trade Center 3 World Trade Center (3 WTC; also known as 175 Greenwich Street) is a skyscraper constructed as part of the new World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The tower is located on Greenwich Street along the eastern side of the World ...

, New York City, USA *

Muskrat Falls Muskrat Falls was a natural waterfall located on the Churchill River (Atlantic), Churchill River about west of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. The hydropower potential of Muskrat Falls was recognized in the early 1900s when the Grand River Pul ...

(hydro-electric dam), Labrador, Canada * Brayton Point Cooling Towers, Somerset, Massachusetts, USA * Lotte World Premium Tower, Seoul, South Korea * Sutong Chang Jiang Highway Bridge,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Menara Carigali Petronas Tower 3, also known as Carigali Tower, is a 60-story, 267-meter-tall skyscraper in KLCC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is Malaysia's eighth tallest building and it is also part of the Petronas Towers complex. The 246-meter high building ...

, Malaysia * Juma Al Majid Tower, Dubai

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...

– the core of the world’s tallest building *

Burj al Arab The Burj Al Arab ( ar, برج العرب, ''Arab Tower'') is a luxury hotel located in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Managed by Jumeirah hotel group, it is one of the tallest hotels in the world, although 39% of its total height ...

, United Arab Emirates – one of the most expensive hotels in the world, in Dubai * Jamarat Bridge Makkah,

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

– multi-level bridge *

Bridgewater Place Bridgewater Place, nicknamed The Dalek, is an office and residential skyscraper in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was the tallest building in Yorkshire at the time of being topped out in September 2005, but is now the second-tallest after ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Tour CBX Tour CBX or Tour Dexia is an office skyscraper located in Supercomplex 2 of the La Défense business district situated west of Paris, France. Built from 2002 to 2005, the tower is 142 metres tall. The tower is built nearby the La Défense circ ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

BMW Welt The BMW Welt is a combined exhibition, delivery, adventure museum, and event venue located in Munich's district Am Riesenfeld, next to the Olympiapark (Munich), Olympic Park, in the immediate vicinity of the BMW Headquarters and factory. It was b ...

, Germany * Vienna Skylink, Vienna Airport, Austria – enlargement of Vienna’s international airport *

Millennium Tower, Vienna The Millennium Tower is a 50-storey, 171 meter skyscraper, the second tallest building and fourth tallest structure in Austria at . The tower is located at Handelskai 94-96 in the Brigittenau 20th district in Vienna, Austria. An antenna mounte ...

, Austria * T-Center, Austria *

Kista Science Tower Kista Science Tower is a 32-story, skyscraper in Kista, Stockholm, Sweden. With its roof-top antenna, its height is , making it one of the tallest buildings in the country, just right in between Turning Torso and Scandic Victoria Tower. The bla ...

, Sweden *

West Tower West Tower is a 40-storey tall skyscraper in Liverpool, England. It is the tallest building in Liverpool. The building was the second tower to be built by Carillion in Liverpool for property developers Beetham, who now use the building as th ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Ada Bridge The Ada Bridge ( sr-cyr, Мост на Ади, Most na Adi) is a cable-stayed bridge over the Sava river in Belgrade, Serbia. The bridge crosses the tip of Ada Ciganlija island, connecting the municipalities of Čukarica and New Belgrade. The br ...

, Belgrade, Serbia

Footnotes

External links

*{{official, http://www.doka.com/doka/en_global/index.php H
Homepage of Doka USA Ltd.Homepage of Doka Canada Ltd.Homepage of Umdasch GroupHomepage of Umdasch Store MakersHomepage of Umdasch Group Ventures
Construction and civil engineering companies of Austria Economy of Lower Austria Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1958 Austrian companies established in 1958