When WWII started, a vast range of civilian construction projects were instantly shelved. When finally the war ended, there was a massive boom in civilian projects and the demand for the construction material of choice of the time era, concrete, skyrocketed. At Stora Vika, south of Stockholm, a new village, a harbour, a limestone pit and a brand new giant cement factory was completed in 1949. The plant was highly modern and one of the largest in the world at the time of its completion and the office and management building gives the true impression of self confidence and sends out a clear scent of the fashion of the 1950s.

The boom in construction during the 1950s and 1960s, and the plant's vicinity to the capital surely made this plant a good investment for its owner, but steeply increasing energy prices, tougher environmental regulations, international competition and declining numbers of large construction projects during the 1970s turned the plant's figures into the red and the plant finally closed in 1980.

The manufacturing principle was according to the "wet method", i.e. a slurry of water, limestone and clay is mixed and baked at high temperature in a rotating kiln, which yields Portland cement clinker. The clinker is then crushed and ground, yielding finished cement. A process typically fueled by low quality (high sulfur) bunker oil or coal – a really nasty process both from an environmental and energy efficiency point of view.

Although it is a good thing that the tall smokestacks have stopped pouring out its filthy smoke, saturated with dust, soot and sulphur dioxide, the overall thought when walking around the site is sadness. Like so many other sites built in the period 1945-1965, there was an overall positivism, determination and a sense of thoroughness and social responsibility – everything seems to have been done with the mindset that "The future is just going be bright, let's put in everything we have – everyone is going to benefit".
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