Injection resin keeps 65,000 m³ of concrete dry
Since its opening at the end of September 2014, the newly built Gerberviertel has provided attractive new options to the inhabitants of Stuttgart in terms of shopping, dining, working, living and parking − all under a single roof. The “Gerber” design team adhered to the criteria of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB; German Sustainable Building Council), and has applied for the related certification.
A team of high-profile experts have been working on the 13,000 m² plot since the construction phase started in January 2011, among them architect Prof. Bernd Albers and Ippolito Fleitz Group commissioned with the interior design of the property. Another member of this team is Stekox GmbH Abdichtungstechnik, the concrete engineering company based in Magstadt. Besides spectacular above-ground activities, such as the six-month demolition phase, below-ground work was crucial because the floor of an underground car park needs to be just as dry as that of a boutique fashion outlet, and a sprinkler tank has to be as tight as the glazed front of a historic façade.
Many years of worldwide project experience pay off
The Stekox polyurethane resin is a two-component mixture of resin and hardener. It keeps 65,000 m³ of concrete and 11,000 t of reinforcing steel dry. “In the underground parking garage, we used an injection proc-ess to seal water-bearing cracks and construction joints in accor-dance with the design,” explains Claus Steinbuch, who founded the business, and is managing it, together with Andreas Kogel. The Stekox team also worked on the sprinkler tank in the service area of the building.
Nowadays, Steinbuch considers such major projects to be part of the company’s day-to-day business. “This type of work has become part of our daily routine after many years of experience gained in major international construction projects − be it in Amsterdam, Malaysia or Singapore, tunneling or road construction, or rehabilitation projects with a large number of issues.”
