“Schrobenhausener Tage” 2023: The city of the future as a successful model for specialist foundation engineering

Schrobenhausen, Germany – An event with a long tradition: For 35 years, BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH has been welcoming national and international guests to the “Schrobenhausener Tage” lecture series. This year’s event was held with the slogan “The City of the Future – Urban Development with Bauer”. Roughly 240 guests accepted their invitation in early May. In addition, approximately 60 international participants made the trip to Schrobenhausen this year, the farthest from Japan. Attendees were treated to a varied mix of exciting presentations about challenging and complex construction projects as well as the innovations in specialist foundation engineering that Bauer has put into practice. The guests were welcomed by Florian Bauer, Managing Director of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, who emphasized the decisive role that specialist foundation engineering plays as the basis for constructing buildings and subways: “Our services are deep in the ground and work reliably in secret. Without them, modern and groundbreaking urban development would not be possible.”

Urban development in Germany
The first topic cluster was “Upgrade Germany,” which addressed unusual projects in Germany. Andreas Wedenig, Project Manager at BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, explained the infrastructure project for the construction of the A26 highway in Hamburg, followed by Sebastian Ostermaier, Sales Engineer of the South region, who outlined the major project for the 2nd S-Bahn trunk line in Munich. Construction work on existing buildings as part of the expansion of a villa under monument protection was discussed by Jessica Nagel, Structural Engineer in the Design department. The morning’s lecture series was concluded with a presentation on the topic “The Future of Construction – Cooperative. Efficient. Digital” given by Chief Executive Tim-Oliver Mueller from the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie e.V. (Federation of the German Construction Industry). During the lunch break, participants were able to inform themselves about the current status of Bauer’s innovations in specialist foundation engineering at various booths of the departments Technical Services, Design and Digitalization. In the exhibit area of the previous in-house exhibition of BAUER Maschinen GmbH, dialogue with experts was the clear focus alongside the impressive exhibits.

International infrastructure projects
Refreshed from their lunch break, participants returned for the event’s second topic cluster. The afternoon kicked off with a presentation on the deepest drilled piles in Vienna during the subway project U2xU5, presented by Patrick Pichler, Sales Engineer and Project Manager at BAUER Spezialtiefbau Ges. m.b.H. in Vienna and Process Engineer Luisa Eikenbusch from the Technical Services department. Mohammed Hussieny, Managing Director of BAUER Foundations Philippines, Inc., explained the particular challenges involved in the once-in-a-century Manila subway project, one of the largest infrastructure projects of all time in the Philippines. Finally, Veronica Stetter presented the work of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH as part of stabilization measures for a hydropower plant in Bhutan. The Civil Engineer managed the project, which was completed last year, and currently works as a Project Manager in the Digitalization department at Bauer Spezialtiefbau. “Our international projects demonstrate once again how important our specialist foundation engineering expertise is for the development of infrastructure, and thus for urban development as a whole,” remarks Florian Bauer. As before, all participants were again given the opportunity to ask questions directly to the presenters after this topic cluster.

The city of the future
The concluding topic of the lecture series offered a glimpse into the future: “The City of the Future” is already taking shape today and is already part of urban development in the form of unique major projects, explains Florian Bauer to introduce this last topic cluster. The presentation by Martin Klemp, partner of the world-renowned architectural firm Auer Weber, about the construction of Munich's new central station emphasized its special position as an urban planning impulse and its challenging sustainability aspects.

Another highlight in modern urban development was presented: the futuristic city of NEOM. Rob Ewen, Senior Executive Director, The Line, NEOM, discussed the pioneering role of this groundbreaking major project and explained the vision of a new future for urban development. Stefan Neidhart, Project Manager international at BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, explained the challenges involved in “The Line,” a highly ambitious NEOM subproject. During a concluding panel talk, Martin Klemp, Rob Ewen, Frank Haehnig, Managing Director at BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, and Karsten Beckhaus, member of the Management Board at BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, lively discussed the opportunities and challenges of modern urban development.

"The city of the future needs specialist foundation engineering! We have innovative and sustainable solutions for it", sums up Florian Bauer. The traditional event concluded with lively discussions during a relaxed Bavarian evening with regional specialties and local music