Façade scaffolding in Mannheim

The company Gerüstbau Dostmann GmbH is one of the most experienced scaffolders in the Rhine-Neckar region. The company founded in its present form in 1961 can however reflect on a much longer handcraft tradition. The company motto of managing director Frank Dostmann: “Absolute priority is given to work and health safety in our company”, is most impressive and not something that can just be taken for granted in times of ever-increasing competitive pressure.

The scaffolding company specialised in industrial and suspended scaffolds has had particular success with intricate and special scaffolding solutions. Something that proved to be the decisive aspect for the Collini-Center scaffolding project in Mannheim. The Collini-Center is a combined facility accommodating shop, office and residential space. The core of the Center is a 2-floor passage housing shops, cinemas and other amenities. The passage is flanked by two high-rise buildings, the 110-metre-high residential block and the lower, but none the less significant, office building. Renovation work was urgently required on the approx. 50 m high adjoining buildings, built in 1975, on account of considerable damage to the façades. A minimum standing time of six months was assumed from the very outset.

Before commencing with the complex scaffolding of the building, the company Dostmann had to put up about 400 m² of protective roofs to secure the building. In the main, Dostmann applied approx. 12,500 m² of the modern façade scaffolding system SUPER from the scaffold manufacturer scafom-rux to implement the project. The height of the personal safety scaffold was at about 50 m. The ease with which SUPER scaffolding can be fitted and the deployment of 15 experienced scaffolders along with two transport platforms meant that the entire building could be scaffolded in just two months, allowing the prescribed deadline for completion to be met. Dostmann Gerüstbau could depend on the company Litterer Gerüstbau from Mannheim for support during the project, thereby enabling the project to be quickly implemented.

The particular challenge that Gerüstbau Dostmann had to confront resulted from the difficult anchorage possibilities there were on the façade. Characteristic of the building complex that is named after C.A. Collini is a honeycomb balcony structure. This meant that anchorage was partially only possible at a height dimension of 3.80 m and 4.80 m lengthwise. To solve the problem, Frank Dostmann in cooperation with the Ingenieur- und Sachverständigenbüro IBS Joachim Specht applied a modified anchorage method. In this respect, additional parallel tubes were attached by means of swivel couplers to the frames on the building side along the entire netted façade scaffold. At the height of possible anchorage points on the building, two longitudinal tubes were attached to these parallel tubes by means of couplers, onto which the anchor or shoring tube for anchorage to the building was subsequently fitted. This special structure meant that the anchorage points could be selected in accordance with the prevailing building circumstances. To carry out the work on the façade, the scaffolding company fitted about 2,800 metres of 2-plank scafom-rux brackets that were additionally stabilised by means of support props.

The company Dostmann has once again proven its profound expertise in the field of scaffold technology with this project. And of course, all the work was carried out safely and without any accidents.

Overall, 12,500 m² of SUPER façade scaffolding by scafom-rux was used by Dostmann Gerüstbau for the Collini-Center project in Mannheim.