FEA38

After around three years of construction, the remodelling of the building complexes at Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 38 was successfully completed. The office building, which was constructed in 1993, is located in the Gronau district of Bonn, a neighbourhood characterised by federal and international institutions in the immediate vicinity of the former government district. The central location on one of the city's most important transport axes and the good public transport connections emphasise the importance of the location, which combines administrative uses with a prestigious environment close to the city.

The project involved the refurbishment of the two connected building sections A and B, each with five floors above ground and two basement floors. The refurbishment was carried out entirely during ongoing operations and therefore placed very high demands on planning, coordination and execution. In order to keep the building operational, the project was realised in sections and floor by floor. User relocations to temporary alternative areas within the building and in some cases to external areas had to be precisely planned and closely timed. One particular challenge was to organise the construction processes in such a way that noise, dust and vibrations were kept to a minimum and employees' day-to-day work could continue as undisturbed as possible.

Essentially, this involved a comprehensive renovation of the existing office space on the standard floors. The existing floor and ceiling structures were dismantled across the board and then rebuilt. In the course of this, architectural and spatial adjustments were made in order to realise modern working environments with flexible usage options. The remodelled areas were given a uniform, high-quality interior fit-out as well as new surfaces and paintwork.

Comprehensive electrical engineering work was carried out at the same time. This also included renewing the electrical installations, adapting to modern IT and communication infrastructures and optimising the lighting and energy supply. Modern conference and event rooms, a sports room and a café lounge, which serves as a meeting point for employees, were also created on the ground floor of the buildings.

Particular challenges in the project were the extensive dismantling of the two existing data centres and the seamless transition and connection to the new data centres in the redundant system.

The FEA38 project is an example of the challenges and potential of building in existing structures. The comprehensive renovation and modernisation measures enabled the existing building structures to be sustainably developed, functionally optimised and adapted to current technical, organisational and user-specific requirements. At the same time, the character of the existing building has been preserved and has been further developed for the future through targeted interventions.