roots, Hamburg

Germany's tallest timber-hybrid high-rise, roots, has been built in Hamburg's Hafencity. Where docks and old warehouses used to stand, the extraordinary construction project of the project developer, GARBE Immobilien-Projekte GmbH, has been realised with 19 floors and a height of approx. 65 m. PORR constructed the shell. The special feature of the structure: it is a combination of conventional reinforced concrete construction and a wooden supporting structure. Only through a perfect interplay between solid construction and timber construction can a load-bearing construction be created.

181 apartments were built on a gross floor area of 36,000 m². In addition, the German Wildlife Foundation is moving into around 4,000 m² of exhibition, office and restaurant space. A total of approx. 5,500 m³ of softwood was used to construct this imposing and sustainable building. The construction method not only contributes to the reduction of CO_², but also limits noise emissions during implementation.

Well-organised construction site logistics.

The building construction team from Münster started the shell construction work on behalf of GARBE Immobilien-Projekte GmbH from Hamburg in May 2021. The new building was divided into two parts: a 19-storey tower and a seven-storey block. The space available for setting up the construction site was limited, meaning that extremely precise planning and logistics were required to carry out the work optimally. The access cores of the hybrid construction were built using the proven reinforced concrete method.

Watch our project video* :                                                            PORR Germany . roots, Hamburg - Climbing Germany's highest timber hybrid house

Flexible responses to changes in the construction process.

A special feature in the execution of this construction project was the crane-dependent climbing formwork. Due to on-site requirements, all three stairwells were constructed using the climbing method. This method was originally only intended for the tower area, but was also used for the cross-wing structure to optimise the construction process. Our structural engineering experts worked in parallel with the timber construction work on the façade. A prerequisite for this was a load-bearing and precisely fitting concrete structure. Special safety concepts were developed in collaboration with Doka, our work preparation department and the construction site team for the simultaneous work with the climbing formwork and the subsequent timber construction below the concrete structure.

(*video platform Vimeo)