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Chill time

Chill time

In the Arctic Circle, Iglootel hotels are built from scratch using snow, ice, and wood – powered by Bosch Professional.

Iglootel: Building with ice

When temperatures drop below 0°C, Dominik Neises and his team get to work. Every year, the upscale event hotel Iglootel is constructed from scratch 100 km south of the Arctic Circle out of massive blocks of ice and wood. Faced with unpredictable weather conditions and tough manual work, the building team works at sub-zero temperatures under immense time pressure. Last winter, our Bosch Professional cordless system arrived on-site to break the ice.

Tough work has never been so chill – with Bosch Professional.

The Bosch Professional GSR 18V-60 C drill sitting on ice next to a box of drill bits at the Iglootel jobsite.

Tough days

ARVIDSJAUR – "These are tough days, but beautiful days," says Dominik Neises, carpenter and construction manager at the Iglootel jobsite. One of the world's most unusual hotels, the Iglootel is built close to Piteå, at the brink of the Arctic tundra in Swedish Lapland. “Every year, we completely rebuild the hotel out of snow, ice, and wood," he says. The project involves manual labour and is produced under enormous time pressure ‒ a massive endurance test for his team and our tools. As the nearest power source is nowhere to be seen, Neises and his team have to depend on high-performance cordless power tools that can hit the ground running, even in aggressive conditions. This year, they put our Bosch Professional 18V System to the test.


Dominik Neises, Carpenter & Construction Manager
We work from mid-November to mid-January under extreme time pressure. It's a huge endurance test for our tools... We need high-performance cordless tools with long runtimes.

Dominik Neises, Carpenter & Construction Manager

Bosch Professional GSR 18V-60 C drilling holes into chunks of ice using the carbide holesaw accessory.

Race against time

"To cope with harsh weather conditions, we have to be able to rely completely on our tools," says Neises. "The nearest power source is far away, so we need high-performance cordless tools with long runtimes." The tasks are diverse: Massive balloons are inflated until they reach five to eight metres in height, covered with snow using a snow blower, and deflated after the snow has completely frozen over. Only then are the igloo interiors outfitted with ice blocks cut from frozen lakes and wood logged from the region for doors, floors, and furnishings. "From drill drivers, impact drivers, jigsaws, circular hand-saws, reciprocating saws, angle grinders, orbital sanders, drill hammers to a construction site spotlight – we're operating every 18V tool with high-performance batteries."


Cordless jobsite light GLI 18V-2200 C Professional lights up the Iglootel jobsite in cold, dark, outdoor conditions

Seamless work

The team uses the high-performance ProCORE18V 4.0 Ah, 8.0 Ah, and 12.0 Ah batteries for rapid work progress and long runtime. Like every other battery in the 18V system, they are fully compatible with all new and old Bosch Professional tools and chargers since 2008. "No matter the application, I can plug in any battery without worrying if they are compatible with the tool," says carpenter Jonathan Hoffmann. "This makes our work easier and saves a great deal of time." The ProCORE18V batteries are also the most compact high-performance 18V batteries on the market, making them light without sacrificing power. Thanks to CoolPack technology, heat is quickly dissipated from the battery pack, allowing heavy-duty applications over a long period of time. “We can now work without any interruptions,” says Neises.


Jonathan Hoffmann, Carpenter
No matter the application, I can plug in any battery without worrying if they are compatible with the tool. This makes our work easier and saves a great deal of time.

Jonathan Hoffmann, Carpenter

Dominik Neises uses the cordless mitre saw GCM 18V-216 Professional to cut wood for doors, floors, and furnishings at the Iglootel

BITURBO breaks the ice

To work efficiently, the team relies on one of our most powerful saws to cut wooden profiles to length and floor boards to size – the GCM 18V-216 Professional. The first cordless mitre saw from Bosch Professional is also part of the high-performance BITURBO cordless series, which boasts the most powerful and intelligent cordless tools in the Bosch Professional portfolio. Developed for maximum performance when paired with ProCORE18V batteries, BITURBO tools deliver equivalent corded power – without the cord. Thanks to a new brushless motor, optimal airflow, and adapted electronics, BITURBO tools are able to get maximum power out of the recommended ProCORE18V 5.5 Ah, 8.0 Ah, and 12.0 Ah batteries.


Dominik Neises uses the cordless mitre saw GCM 18V-216 Professional with ProCORE 18V, which delivers up to 1,600W of equivalent corded power.

Cutting the cord

By pairing the GCM 18V-216 Professional with a ProCORE18V 8.0 Ah battery, the team suddenly has a cordless mitre saw that delivers an astonishing 1,600W of equivalent corded power. The BITURBO mitre saw also offers the best cutting depth of 70mm in its class, enabling a wider range of applications than any other saw on the market with a 216mm blade. In the past, Neises and his team had to choose between corded power and cordless flexibility, but now thanks to BITURBO and ProCORE18V they have both. Out on the Arctic tundra, where there isn't an electric socket for miles, working with corded power without the cord is an absolute game-changer.


Dominik Neises, Carpenter & Construction Manager
The new Bosch Professional carbide technology makes it possible for us to reliably perform many work steps for a very, very long time... with the same saw blade.

Dominik Neises, Carpenter & Construction Manager

Carbide blade accessory used with reciprocating saw GSA 18V-32 Professional for maximum endurance.

Carbide blades

Part of Neises's job is to harvest massive chunks of ice blocks from the frozen lake and transport them to the igloos. For this purpose, he needs to build a wooden sledge. He quickly cuts the required wood to size using the GSA 18V-32 Professional reciprocating saw. To save time switching between reciprocating accessory blades, he goes straight for the long-lasting Bosch Professional carbide blade ‒ in this case the Progressor for Wood and Metal blade. Thanks to carbide grades optimised for wood and metal applications, the blade sports extremely wear-resistant carbide teeth and is designed for the toughest applications. The result? An exceptionally long service life. “I can perform different work steps with diferent materials quickly and reliably with the very same saw blade," says Neises. "This saves us a lot of time."


Cordless reciprocating saw GSA 18V-32 Professional lies on the table at the Iglootel jobsite.

Teamwork

We ask Neises what he finds most striking about the Iglootel jobsite. “We're creating living space here out of natural materials," he replies. "We know that it's transient and that's the main reason why it's so unique. That makes it fascinating." Flat out in the open expanse of snow and ice, the very things that make the Iglootel jobsite so challenging are also what makes for some of the most beautiful days of the year. Neises says: "We tackle the challenges as a team – with perfect teamwork between tools, batteries, and accessories.”


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