Skandinavienkai
Logistics hall
The implementation of the flexible and futureoriented logistics halls required specific knowhow, which Rubner was able to provide thanks to numerous international, and similarly sized projects that the company has already implemented.
European maritime hub
The port of Lübeck is one of Europe’s most important ports but also the largest distribution centre for Scandinavian paper industry. To provide for additional storage capacities at the Skandinavienkai, which – with a total surface of 749,000 m² already today is the largest terminal – a new hall has been built with a roof surface of approximately 12,000 m² (121 x 101 meters) for the intermediate storage of paper. The general contractor for the Lübeck Hafen-Gesellschaft (the port operating company) was the German construction company August Prien. Project design works have been executed by the Lübeck based architectural office peter + jan gröpper Architektur- und Planungs-GmbH. Rubner was responsible for the structural engineering of timber constructions, workshop design, production, transport, and assembly. The hall has been designed in a way to allow further extension if required. A total surface of 15,000 m² can be achieved and extension works can be implemented without having to interrupt the halls’ operation during construction works. Once again, timber constructions are the perfect solution for these type of project requirements since interfaces of timber constructions provide for the necessary flexibility to allow the integration of additional elements.
Project details
Implementation period for timber engineering works 06/2021–11/2021
Client Aug. Prien Bauunternehmung (GmbH & Co. KG), Hamburg (DE)
Architecture and structural engineering peter + jan gröpper Architektur- und Planungs-GmbH, Lübeck (DE)
Glued laminated timber 1.425 m³
Steel 15 t
Pictures © Daniela Bunu
Increased fire-protection specifications
Storing paper requires increased fire protection specifications. In addition to the specifically developed fireextinguishing concept, timber offers natural and above all calculable fireresistance properties. In the event of fire, the outside layer will carbonise thus decelerating the burning process or even preventing the fire from penetrating the entire timber structure. All structural requirements - enhanced and tightened in the course of time by official authorities - were fulfilled in the implementation of this project. All beam supports had to comply with fire protection standard R90, all fish-bellied girders and all ridged roof girders had to comply with fire protection standard R60.
Challenging transport
To build the supporting structure of the new logistics hall at the Lübeck port, Rubner prefabricated and processed a total of 1,425 m3 of glued laminated timber in its Ober Grafendorf factory. These huge material volumes require precise logistics and close coordination between production, transport, and assembly teams on-site. Due to the dimensions of the fishbellied girders measuring 43,5 and 28 meters in length, of the ridged roof girders measuring 27 meters in length, and due to element loads ranging between 12 and 22 tons per girder, road transport by truck was not feasible for economic reasons. For this reason, the largely dimensioned elements with an overall volume of some 1,000 m3 were transported by ship from the Rhenus Donau port in Krems to the Lübeck port. Since the ship’s unloading point was located approximately 2 kms from the Skandinavienkai, the final transport section of the main girders to construction site was then made special trucks.
Assembly in only six weeks
The four beam supports were first assembled on site to reach an overall length of more than 60 meters and then lifted with the help of two mobile cranes onto the four columns provided. The fully assembled hall is composed of two glued laminated timber beams measuring 44 x 251 cm, each of them being composed of 4 elements with elements arranged over a length of 121 meters. The assembly of the 42 main girders, 6 beam supports, columns and wall beams only took six weeks, as previously scheduled.
In this case, we were lucky to be able to manage most of the transport route by ship thus saving time and costs for the transport of the longest and heaviest structure elements. Timber as construction material allows to implement impressive spans without losing valuable storage area by interrupting columns. The timber construction allows to further extend the building without having to interrupt the hall’s operation during extension works.