KölnTriangle - Project management with an excellent outlook

Since Spring 2006, the Cologne district of Deutz has had a new landmark: The KölnTriangle. With its 103.2 meter tower and a total of 1,300 workplaces on a leasable area of some 30,000 m², the building enriches the Rhineland capital. Drees & Sommer managed the project from its inception right through to handover to the Owner, the Rheinische Versorgungskassen.

With the goal of agreeing on a fixed price and a fixed schedule for completion - thus reducing the risk for the Owner - Drees & Sommer conducted a tender process for a sole contractor. The aim was to find a construction company that would join forces with an architect to submit a fixed price for the implementation of all planning services. The tender from Züblin with architects Gatermann + Schossig won the contract. The contract to Züblin AG covered planning and construction. Drees & Sommer was responsible for ensuring adherence to budget and schedules, and for quality control. As a result, there were basically only two points of contact for the construction phase.

The building complex comprises a low-rise (phase 2) and a high-rise (phase 3). At 103.2 meters, the tower block is currently the highest building on the right side of the Rhine in Cologne-Deutz. The building is regarded as a pilot project for upgrading of the district around Deutz station and the KölnMesse (Cologne Fair Center).

Construction was planned in several phases. Following completion of Phase 1 in the mid 1990s, phases 2 and 3 were started on the basis of the original contract from 2002. Drees & Sommer worked with Züblin to adjust costs to the changed technical conditions for these phases.

The award of project management for KölnTriangle meant many challenges for the Cologne Drees & Sommer team. The tower - with its elliptical-triangle footprint - is architecturally sophisticated and an engineering challenge. For example, gliding formwork had to be developed and manufactured for the core of the building which rose gradually with the tower.

In order to meet the diverse requirements of tenants, the project managers developed a flexible infrastructure and supply concept that would allow wide-ranging demands to be met. This range of possibilities was a convincing selling point for potential tenants - and a reason for one key user - the European Air Safety Agency - to lease some 10,000 m² of the KölnTriangle. In the meantime, the building is almost fully leased. Another decisive criterion for attractive tenants - and thus for the Owner - was the creation of a building that operates smoothly, is flexible in use, and economical - resulting in low building operating costs. To ensure this, Drees & Sommer's Facility Management consulting services integrated potential users' requirements into planning at an early stage and monitored systematic implementation during construction.

The Drees & Sommer team's interdisciplinary project management services for the KölnTriangle aimed at achieving smooth implementation of the planning, tender and construction phases. The key task for project managers was to keep costs under control at all stages and to ensure quality of build. They were also responsible for ensuring that all involved in the project completed tasks on schedule, allowing completion of the building on schedule in Spring 2006. Anyone can now go to the freely accessible viewing platform to enjoy the view over the ancient city of Cologne with its cathedral and to the Siebengebirge hills and Bergisch Land.

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