Official handing-over ceremony for Steigerblick comprehensive school in Erfurt

ZÜBLIN completed three-storey extension ahead of schedule.


Inauguration of new school premises
ZÜBLIN completes three-storey extension ahead of schedule
Fast and environmentally friendly construction thanks to MOLENO

 
Following a construction phase of around twelve months, the new extension building for Gemeinschaftsschule 6, a comprehensive school in Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, was officially opened on 6 September. Attending the inauguration ceremony, in addition to the school’s students and staff, were Erfurt mayor Andreas Bausewein as well as ZÜBLIN business unit managers Michael Stange and Christian Küffner. “We are very pleased that the extension building was completed on schedule so it could be put into operation at the beginning of the school year. That isn’t always something you can take for granted these days,” said Andreas Bausewein.
The extension became necessary due to the merger of the primary school and lower secondary school to form the comprehensive school, which resulted in an increased student population. The new three-storey building offers around 2,540 m² of floor space with 30 barrier-free classrooms, group rooms and rooms for differentiated learning. ZÜBLIN completed the project ahead of schedule.
“Erfurt will have to consider the two key topics of sustainability and digitalisation with regard to its buildings in the coming years,” says Arne Ott, head of the Office for Building Management of the City of Erfurt. That requires an end-to-end design-build-operate approach and includes asking essential questions about life cycle costs and possible after-use concepts – everything that needs to be considered in advance as a builder-owner and operator. “We are therefore pleased to have found a competent partner in ZÜBLIN with whom we can tackle these issues for our school construction needs.”
“The new extension was built to meet high standards of environmental protection. Thanks to MOLENO, a modular timber hybrid construction method developed by ZÜBLIN, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) during the structural works was reduced by 70 % compared to the conventional concrete construction method,” says Michael Stange, technical manager of ZÜBLIN’s Jena business unit. While the foundation, ceilings and staircases are made of reinforced concrete, the walls were built using LENO® cross-laminated timber panels, with ZÜBLIN Timber responsible for all timber construction work in the extension building. An information event in July gave interested parties, including Matthias Bärwolff, the head of the Erfurt building department, an opportunity to discover the potential applications of the MOLENO method.
The façade was designed with a durable, low-maintenance weather shell made of Eternit panels to minimise operating costs. The building’s environmental footprint will continue to be improved during operation, for example through the use of efficient heat pump technologies.