UBM Germanyand PAULUS Immobiliengruppe are currently realizing the headquarters of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Frankfurt's Europaviertel neighbourhood. The building will offer attractive workplaces on around 30,000 sqm of rental space spreading over 18 floors and providing generous space for around 1,000 employees. The approximately 60 m high, H-shaped office tower consists of two slender individual structures the upper halves of which are rotated and shifted against each other. This results in a cantilever in the middle of the office tower, which leads to an offset in the building front.
The construction of the architecturally impressive large-scale project started at the beginning of 2019, finalisation is planned for the third quarter of 2022. As construction progressed, two rack-and-pinion hoists from Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH were installed on the shell as part of the site installation, growing upwards together with the building.
Efficient passenger and material transport
A Böcker Super-Lift LX 2040 platform in twin operation with two cabins on one mast is used for passenger transportation during the construction works. In the cabins sized 4.10 x 1.40 m up to seven persons travel to the 18 floors and onto the roof of the building. The frequency-controlled drive unit enables hoisting speeds of up to 40 m/min allowing the construction workers to change their location at pace.
The material transport on the construction site is ensured by another construction hoist, the Super-Lift LX 4024 with a spacious cabin size of 5,10 x 2,90 m. The platform travels on a double mast and transports up to 4 t of material with one upward ride. With a hoisting speed of 24 m/min, large facade elements and the entire material from the individual trades for interior finishing reach the floors. The high load-bearing capacity of the platform is an important prerequisite for the project as apart from the building materials, a mini crane with a weight of 3,850 kg has to be transported between the different levels. Set up on the intermediate ceilings, this crane ropes the facade elements down to the floor below, where they are subsequently installed.
The Super-Lift LX transport platforms used in Frankfurt are designed as through-loading platforms. Their lifting height at the new building is about 65 m, in other projects even heights of up to 200 m can be realized. The sturdy 4-tube square steel masts ensure considerable anchorage distances of up to 25 m saving a lot of assembly time during erection. Special tie-ins with extension tubes bridge the considerable gap between the hoists and the building.
Variable bridging of the offset
The extraordinary architecture of the office complex and the offset in the middle of the structure were a particular challenge for the installation of the transport platforms. In order to compensate for the varying gap between the hoists and the building, Böcker designed special landing decks at each of the 18 floors thus avoiding the installation of an additional modular scaffold to compensate for the offset.
At the lower part of the building, the landing decks of the Super-Lift LX 4024 jut out by one meter above the floor ceiling, however, by only 30 cm at the upper part. They consist of two steel railings, a girder system and the wooden scaffold planking. The decks are anchored to the intermediate ceilings by means of directional braces. With this sturdy design, the landing decks carry a load of up to four tons, thus being optimally matched to the payload of the elevator. Even constructions bridging a gap of up to 2 m between the hoist and the edge of the ceiling are possible depending on the project.
Stable loading ramps
The three cabins of the hoists installed at the new building in Frankfurt are equipped with loading ramps designed for withstanding the highest loads. The base frame of the elevators is placed in a pit in order to ensure a ground-level loading and unloading via the ramps. On this construction site, the platforms are operated by a personal platform operator. Optionally, the Super-Lift LX hoists are available with call control at the respective floors and a Böcker Web-Key access system, which controls access via card control and precisely records the times of use.
Further information about our Super-Lift hoists can be found here.
