Cemex contributes to new athletic centres in Germany

In Germany, public health and athletic activity are very much in style, with local governments and private entities investing in state-of-the-art centres to promote athletics. Cemex has contributed to two different fitness centres for football and swimming, catering to professionals and amateurs alike.

A swimming centre is currently under development in Potsdam on a plot of 18 000 m2, one of the largest construction sites in Berlin’s Metropolitan area. The new building will have five floors, two of them underground, and will include a 50-meter pool with 10 lanes according to the International Swimming Federation’s standards. The final structure will also include a teaching pool, leisure pool and a children’s pool in addition to changing rooms and leisure areas. Cemex is supplying more than 17 000 m3 of ready-mix concrete for the foundations, interior and exterior walls, ceilings, columns, beams and water basins.

"Just for the production of the bottom plate, the construction site requested 5250 m3 of waterproof concrete requiring large boom pumps capable of pumping from a distance of up to 52 m," explains Torsten Schiller Cemex Key Account Manager in Germany. “The technical demands on the concrete were exceptionally high.”

Schiller further explains that the most challenging building components in terms of design and construction materials will remain hidden from the eyes of bathers. In the utility floor below the pool are large raw water reservoirs that hold, treat, and clean part of the water volume contained by the swimming pool. This water tank is made from a high-strength concrete, which, due to hygienic concerns, needed to have as smooth a surface as possible to prevent germs from settling into cracks and pores.

The admixtures team in Germany and our ready-mix concrete specialists adjusted the required consistency of the product with utmost precision. "In order to meet all developer requirements, a high degree of sensitivity was required to adjust the concrete," says Jörg Hölzgen, Cemex Head of Concrete Testing in Potsdam. “As part of our self-monitoring process, this concrete was subjected to a particularly high level of scrutiny." Cemex’s solution eliminated the need for an additional, costly coating for the tank.

Less than two hours away from Potsdam in the city of Leipzig, the professional RasenBallsport Leipzig soccer team has moved into a new sport and training centre. Cemex supplied approximately 13 600 m3 of ready-mix concrete for the centre which is located by the arena where the footballers play their home matches for the bundesliga, the professional German league.

At 13 500 m2, the new facility is one of the largest in Germany, with enough space for all of the RB Leipzig teams, from U-14 youth to the Bundesliga team. The centre has all the modern facilities that can support players to become champions, from a running track to a cooling chamber. The flexible space also includes a boarding school for the young players of the youth league, offering end-to-end care for beginning athletes to fully-fledged professionals.

Edited from source by Joseph Green. Source: Cemex

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/26092016/cemex-contributes-new-athletic-centres-germany-323/