Bremen-Überseestadt

Europahafenkopf development

Frankipile NG® foundations for the deep foundations for a quarter in Bremen’s Überseestadt

Neighbourhood development at the Europahafen

The Europahafenkopf is situated on a former harbour site in Bremen’s Überseestadt district. The new development utilises land on a reclaimed harbour area and combines residential, office and transport functions within a cohesive quarter. Due to the height of the buildings and their intended use, deep foundations were required for the building complex.

Deep foundations on reclaimed harbour land

The Zechhaus site is situated on a reclaimed area of the Europahafen. The fill consists predominantly of sand with locally interbedded cohesive soil layers. Below these layers, silt and harbour basin sediments, as well as deeper natural sands, were identified. Following the geotechnical investigations, it was determined that the structural loads had to be transferred to deeper, load-bearing sand layers. Frankipiles NG® were therefore used for the foundations.

200 Frankipiles NG® for the building foundations

A total of 200 Frankipiles NG® were installed for the deep foundations of the quarter. The piles transfer the loads from the buildings to the load-bearing soil layers beneath the fill and harbour deposits. The pile system was selected on the basis of the ground conditions and the structural requirements of the construction project.

Pile foundations in an inner-city setting

The foundation works took place in the immediate vicinity of existing office buildings, a multi-storey car park and a hotel. During construction, the works were monitored by means of vibration measurements carried out throughout the project. When driving the Frankipiles NG® piles, the driving energy could be adapted to the respective boundary conditions by varying the drop height of the free-fall ram. The works were carried out in accordance with the project-specific vibration limit values. The installation parameters were recorded using measurement technology and documented. As well as this, the construction procedures and equipment parameters were adapted to the inner-city conditions. The installation of the Frankipile NG® piles is carried out using the displacement pile method with internal ramming. In this process, the existing subsoil remains in the subsoil and is displaced during pile fabrication.

The foundation for the new development at Europahafenkopf

The installation of the pile foundations laid the groundwork for the construction of the four buildings in the Europahafenkopf quarter. The Frankipiles NG® form the foundation for load transfer for the building complex at the Bremen-Überseestadt site.