Partnership construction of new buildings of the Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuertemberg

Four new buildings of the Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuertemberg will complete concentrating the bank's office and service units in Stuttgart. Drees & Sommer Stuttgart assumed complex construction consultancy of the major project.

Project management had to ensure the punctual move-in of the bank's staff, adhere to the constructor's cost schedules and guarantee the buildings' high quality standards.
The guiding idea connecting all actions was to enable good communication and cooperation between all involved in construction and thus facilitate optimal planning and construction procedures.

Start phase and architect competition
In order to agree on requirements to be satisfied by the new buildings, the project manager team organised a workshop with the buildings' future users in the start phase in May/June 1999. In accordance with the defined budget for construction, project managers then compiled a space allocation and function plan as basis for the international architect competition. Before the consultation of the appraisal committee, Drees & Sommer examined submitted concepts. In January 2000, the expert panel decided for the winning concept of the architects Wolfram Wöhr and Jörg Mieslinger.

Planning and awarding
Thereupon, further specialist planners were selected for the planning team. A team-training seminar formed the basis for a cooperative collaboration of the various specialists. To facilitate a realistic consideration of the difficulties of the complex building site, various possible construction procedures were simulated by CAD. On basis of the visualisation, possible problems were recognised at an early stage and solved by implementing appropriate measures. The internet-based software Project Communication Management (PKM) ensured rapid data transfer between participants, controlled the workflow and documented project development in subsequent processes.

At an early stage, the Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuertemberg had decided to allocate all contracts of construction execution for all trades individually. This aimed at strengthening the Baden-Wuertemberg construction sector. The comprehensive awarding strategy also enabled an economic "purchasing" of construction services. In order to guarantee prompt commissioning and realisation, the awarding process overlapped with contract execution. Development started in March 2001 when work was initiated with first stages such as excavations and structural works. For the last of the overall 65 commissioned trades - signage and luminous advertising - contracts were concluded in October 2003.

Realisation phase
Works on the building site started in November 2001. The project manager's central task was the comprehensive controlling of costs, fixed dates and quality demands. All trades were coordinated with each other. Constant access to the building site also had to be ensured. When problems occurred, it was the project managers' task to rapidly effect an amicable solution of the conflict. Arising structural modifications were examined on their consequences for the time schedule and the building budget. When fixed dates were in danger of delay or costs threatened to be transgressed, this was compensated by changes of construction procedures.
Construction consultancy was supported by a detailed plan of procedures for all trade acceptances while also ensuring deliveries on schedule to the Federal State Bank of Baden-Wuertemberg from March 2004.

The coordinated and positive collaboration of all participants resulted in a virtually smooth planning development and construction sequence. The administrative complex in the new Stuttgart Urban Quarter is thus also an excellent example for partnership building.

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