Pedestrian bridge over “Kehrwiederfleet” is awarded with German Bridge Construction Prize

At the award ceremony, Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, presented the award in the category of pedestrian and cycle bridges to HHLA Real Estate and the planning team, consisting of panta ingenieure and studioH2K Architekten, and described the structure as a pioneering innovation in civil engineering.

The jury singled out the world's smallest "railroad bridge" in particular for the impressive reduction of the structure to the absolutely essential, as well as the innovative trick of anchoring the supporting structure behind the listed facade and basing it inside the building. Only this bearing enables the visual weightlessness and reduced elegance of the construction as well as the minimal intervention in the protected existing building.

Due to the special status of the World Heritage Site and the protection of historic monuments, the highest demands on design and construction had to be met and special technical solutions had to be developed. In order to achieve these high goals, intensive coordination and planning processes were necessary and resulted in an award-worthy overall work.

"From the start of the project in the summer of 2016 until the bridge was lifted into place, four years passed. During this time, the entire project team has demonstrated coordination skills with the historic preservation office, perseverance during the planning phase, as well as thoroughness during construction. It is all the more rewarding when one's own work is finally honored with the highest award for engineering performance in German bridge construction," says Joeline Gronendahl, who together with Alexandre Rombourg took over project management from the HHLA Real Estate division.

HHLA has produced around 3,700 square meters of additional rental space for Miniatur Wunderland as part of the overall "Redevelopment of Storage Block L31-33" project to enable an expansion of the Hanseatic city's most popular tourist attraction.

The fully glazed connecting element was installed above the Kehrwiederfleet. Today, the world's longest model railroad track passes over the 25-meter bridge.

Here is the link to the nomination video of the pedestrian bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmuffOcmHAY