Blocks of Flats Formerly Occupied by French Military Personnel in the Berlin Borough of Tegel

"The big challenges for us were the extremely short construction window of only two weeks and extensively preassembling elements to comply with the passive house standard by achieving a U-value under 015 W/m²K."

Opitz Holzbau GmbH & Co. KG in Neuruppin, which was contracted to do the work

Things are happening in the part the Berlin borough of Tegel that used to be occupied by members of the French armed forces and their families: The Cité West Group, a Berlin-based investment company specialised in residential properties, acquired a majority stake in the firm that owned the blocks of flats. It then proceeded to renovate and modernise them.

For ten of the buildings, architect Jonas Kamprad designed an additional storey that was built under great time pressure. The main challenge was that the work had to be completed within two weeks for each building. The name of the game were therefore, no time to lose! Fortunately, SWISS KRONO OSB is excellently suited for mastering challenges of this kind. Its advantages, which include low weight, no entrapped moisture, no need for storage at the construction site as the elements can be immediately installed, and fast building, were fully taken advantage of in Tegel.

The timber-frame elements were preassembled at Opitz Holzbau GmbH & Co. KG, the Neuruppin-based contractor, including all installations and window apertures and elements, as well as attachments for mounting external zinc plates. This approach made it possible to quickly build and seal new upper storeys with raintight roofs. The prescribed two weeks of construction time per building were enough to add another storey measuring 10 x 15 or 10 x 50 metres. The fast progress of the work also reduced the associated annoyance for the buildings’ residents.

This resulted in premium new living space with underfloor heating, wood-frame windows with triple glazing and tasteful bathrooms in brand-new upper storeys with hipped roofs. Today, all of the new flats have already found tenants, who are greatly enjoying this eco-friendly, resource-conserving way of living.