In the construction of the new terminal in Frankfurt Airport, the contractor is using circular column formwork from PASCHAL. The Lupp Group of Companies has been constructing the building shell for pier G on behalf of Fraport AG since May 2019.

The first section of the building should be finished in August 2021, a good two years before the two other departure gates of Terminal 3. The floor surface area is estimated at 22,000 sq m and will accommodate 11 check-in counters and 13 gates.

Pier G will be able to relieve the load on terminals 1 and 2 when it is finished in 2021 and will initially be able to provide space for four to five millions passengers a year. The capacity will increase to around six to seven million passengers when it is fully completed. The new departure gate has been designed for lean processes and will enable passengers to reach their flights directly in a fast and easy manner. It will be constructed as a fully-functional terminal building and will be optimally incorporated into the Frankfurt Airport hub.

The building shell - an almost 100% reinforced concrete design
The contractors, Adolf Lupp GmbH + Co KG AV/BL, were not able to find a precast reinforced concrete factory for the production of the different circular columns with numerous support bracket versions despite searching all over Germany, and they therefore got in contact with PASCHAL. The formwork specialists from Steinach, Germany then designed and produced circular column formwork combined with support brackets, inlays and base extensions for the Lupp Group of Companies.

The individual formwork panels can be combined with each other to form all of the column dimensions, column shapes and support structures efficiently and with as few formwork panels as possible. For example, a circular column with one support bracket can be formed by adding a half-shell for a circular column with two support brackets.

The first project and immediately a great success
Lupp relied on the formwork, work preparation and formwork planning from PASCHAL for the first time and the company is completely satisfied with the result. PASCHAL is always on the contractor’s side, even for tricky formwork tasks, and they have dealt with every enquiry that they have received using their successful steel specialised formwork structures. The same is true for the new construction of pier G in Terminal 3 in Frankfurt.

Project Manager Nando Ragusa and Senior Foreman Uwe Mayer affirmed the smooth collaboration. The results that had been achieved were praised explicitly in the joint on-site meeting at the end of February 2020 with the management of Adolf Lupp GmbH + Co KG AV/BL. The Lupp Group of Companies management is also extremely satisfied with the collaboration and the results that have been achieved.

Masterful detailed solutions
Even if it is not spectacular at first glance, when it is observed in detail, it quickly becomes clear that the gifted formwork experts have worked intelligently for the contractor and have enabled the production of individual column dimensions and column shapes with few circular formwork panels, special components and formwork inlays.

In total, 264 reinforced concrete columns with differing column heights of up to 9.00 m with column cross-sections of D = 60, 70 and 80 cm were built using PASCHAL formwork. Each column is assembled together with the support bracket and base and concreted in one step.