New landmark for Frankfurt skyline: STRABAG subsidiary leads construction of “central business tower” for Helaba
9 November 2021
- Consortium of ZÜBLIN and Dobler Metallbau building a 205 m tall, glass office tower complex to a design by KSP Engel
- Large-scale project being realised together with client Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen under the ZÜBLIN teamconcept® partnering model
- Contract value for the new 52-storey high-rise in the mid three-digit million-euro range
Frankfurt, 9 November 2021---The STRABAG Group has been awarded a new large-scale project in Frankfurt. Ed. Züblin AG, in a consortium with Dobler Metallbau GmbH, has been commissioned to build a prominent 205 m tall office tower for Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba). A general contractor agreement for the project was signed on 8 November 2021. The contract for the turnkey construction of the new building, to be called “central business tower”, has a volume in the mid three-digit million-euro range.
The large-scale project designed by KSP Engel is being implemented jointly and in partnership with Helaba using the proven ZÜBLIN teamconcept® partnering approach. The ZÜBLIN teams involved in the project had already provided advice and support to Helaba in the preconstruction design (teamconcept® preconstruction phase) starting in July 2020. Construction of the “central business tower”, with 52 floors above and five below ground, including a five-storey base building with historic façade, is scheduled to last about six years. Demolition of the existing buildings at Neue Mainzer Straße will begin in November. The first tenants will move into the new building at the end of 2027 and the entire project should be completed by early 2028.
“Outstanding high-rise project sets new standards”
“I’m very delighted, both personally and for Helaba, that we have found a strong partner to work with on this outstanding high-rise project. Ed. Züblin AG is the right choice to realise the open design and sustainable concept of the ‘central business tower’, which will set new standards in the field of high-rise development,” explains Helaba board member Christian Schmid, who is responsible for the bank's real estate business.
“We are pleased to have been awarded the contract for this exciting project in the heart of Frankfurt, which is an expression of Helaba’s trust and confidence in ZÜBLIN’s building construction and civil engineering expertise. The ‘central business tower’ will create attractive office workspace in a prime location of a growing city. The joint project realisation with our client and our consortium partner under the teamconcept® partnering model offers the best conditions for the on-time and on-budget implementation of this demanding construction project,” says Thomas Birtel, CEO of STRABAG SE.
ZÜBLIN’s Turnkey Construction 2 business unit (Stuttgart subdivision) has overall responsibility for all technical and commercial aspects within the consortium. In addition, teams from the Stuttgart structural engineering business unit, the Mitte subdivision (turnkey construction) from Frankfurt, Züblin Spezialtiefbau GmbH and Zentrale Technik are contributing a whole range of ZÜBLIN services in building construction and civil engineering to the project. The façade work for the tower is being carried out by a team from consortium partner Dobler Metallbau.
New landmark building in the banking capital
The “central business tower” will add another fixture to the skyline of the European banking capital. The landmark building is being constructed in the immediate vicinity of the Commerzbank Tower, the twin towers of Deutsche Bank and Helaba’s headquarters in the Main Tower. Helaba will not use the new property itself but will lease it out completely. KSP Engel had already designed a new high-rise building for this location back in 2001. The current design by the renowned architectural firm is essentially based on the original concept: a slender office tower with a double, strikingly stepped building structure with changing views from different perspectives, with a transparent glass façade as a counterpoint to the mirrored twin towers of Deutsche Bank. The high-rise complex will be complemented by a base building integrating the historically listed façade and foyer rotunda of the 1891 bank building. The base building and the first four floors of the double tower are intended for public use, with restaurants, a barista café and a branch of the Museum of World Cultures, among other things. Helaba will rent out floors 5 to 52 of the “central business tower” with an area of around 66,000 m² to companies for office use.
