In remote eastern Iceland, one of the largest communities isn’t Icelandic. It is the self-contained village built for workers on the Fjarðaál aluminum smelter project.
When the project reaches peak construction this year, the village will house more than 1,500 workers. By comparison, the nearest Icelandic town, Reyðarfjörður, boasts some 650 residents.
The Fjarðaál Team Village was designed to give workers everything they need. There is a television in each room, a recreation hall for billiards and table tennis, a gym, a barbeque area—even an Internet café. The idea was to provide the amenities so there would be no need to travel into Reyðarfjörður.
“We didn’t want the workers to overwhelm the town,” says Bechtel Project Manager Joe Wahba. “The plan was that at no time would more than 5 percent of the workforce wander outside the team village, and so far that has been the case.”
Most of the small initial workforce on the project was Icelandic, but at peak construction, about 75 percent of the craft workers will be from outside the country—most from Poland. In part that is due to Iceland’s strong economy and low unemployment creating a shortage of skilled workers.
