engineering

Webuild

Webuild is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Webuild rather than just read about it. In short: Webuild S.p.A. (previously Salini Impregilo S.p.A.; Italian: [saˈliːni impreˈdʒiːlo]) is an Italian industrial group specialising in construction and civil engineering.

Key takeaways

Webuild belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Webuild to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Webuild from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Webuild S.p.A. (previously Salini Impregilo S.p.A.; Italian: [saˈliːni impreˈdʒiːlo]) is an Italian industrial group specialising in construction and civil engineering. The company was formally founded in 2014 as the result of the merger by incorporation of Salini into Impregilo. Webuild is the largest Italian engineering and general contractor group and a global player in the construction sector. The company is active in over 50 countries of 5 continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania) with more than 85,000 employees. Its experience ranges from the construction of dams, hydroelectric plants and hydraulic structures, water infrastructures and ports, to roads, motorways, railways, metro systems and underground works, to airports, hospitals and public and industrial buildings, to civil engineering for waste-to-energy plants and environmental protection initiatives. It takes first place in the water sector of the Engineering News-Record rankings, the benchmark for the entire construction industry. The company is listed on the Borsa Italiana. Its chief executive is Pietro Salini.

History The company was founded as Impregilo in 1960 and expanded following a merger with Cogefar-Impresit S.p.A., Girola S.p.A. and Lodigiani S.p.A. in 1994. Impregilo established a business relationship with Fisia in 1998, and acquired Todini in 2010. In 2011 Salini, privately held, began its acquisition of Impregilo with an initial purchase of shares, reaching 25% the following year. The acquisition set a precedent in Italy because it was the first proxy fight for control of a company to occur in the country. Despite the opposition it faced from a group of investors, Salini managed to convince enough shareholders at an assembly in July 2012 to approve its proposal to replace Impregilo's board of directors with its own list of candidates. Once in place, these new members of the board approved Salini's offer to buy the rest of Impregilo. Pietro Salini became chief executive. A few months later, the board approved Salini's plan. In 2013, Salini launched a tender offer to buy the remaining ordinary shares in Impregilo. In January 2014 the transaction was completed forming Salini Impregilo. In 2016, it bought Lane Industries, based in Connecticut and, in 2019, it announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Cossi Costruzioni. In May 2020, the company was rebranded as Webuild. In November 2020, Webuild acquired a 65% shareholding in Astaldi. In November 2022, Webuild announced that, subject to due diligence, it would acquire the Australian based company Clough Group.

Operations The group is organised into four business areas: Clean Hydro Energy, Clean Water, Sustainable Mobility, Green Buildings. The company's projects include 313 dams and hydroelectric plants; 13,319 kilometres (8,276 miles) of railway lines; 3,408 kilometres (2,118 miles) of underground works, 821 kilometres (510 miles) of which subway lines; 82,533 kilometres (51,284 miles) of roads and highways; and 1,020 kilometres (630 miles) of bridges and viaducts.

Major projects Projects in which the company has been involved include buildings, public utilities, motorways, underground works, airports, water supply systems, waste disposals, hospitals and land development. Some major examples include:

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Webuild

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Webuild claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Webuild before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Webuild ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Webuild

In research: Webuild appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Webuild in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Webuild is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Abu Simbel, Companies based in Milan, Companies listed on the Borsa Italiana, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Webuild outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Webuild in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Webuild means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Webuild out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Webuild in simple terms?

Webuild S.p.A. (previously Salini Impregilo S.p.A.; Italian: [saˈliːni impreˈdʒiːlo]) is an Italian industrial group specialising in construction and civil engineering.

Why does Webuild matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Webuild?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Webuild.