Groundbreaking ceremony for the Marbacher Tor

EgeTrans will expand its headquarters in Marbach am Neckar by two additional buildings. At the Ludwigsburger Straße 72 - 74, in between Ludwigsburger Straße (L1100) and the bank of the Neckar, the quarter “Living and working at the waterfront” will be built.

After the demolition work on the property was successfully completed in recent weeks, the construction phase of the Marbacher Tor has started with the “groundbreaking ceremony”.

The “groundbreaking ceremony” is a construction ritual for a new building. The owner puts a spade into the ground and lifts earth out of his property. This action symbolizes the start of construction. For the Marbacher Tor this ritual was celebrated on Friday, March 10, 2023 at the construction site including guests from the city administration Marbach am Neckar, representatives of the SCHATZ projectplan office, the trades and the press. 

Marcel Steinmüller, Managing Director EgeTrans, welcomed the guests that afternoon and thanked all those involved for their good cooperation over the last few months. It had led to the result that the project could run smoothly so far. In particular, he thanked the city administration of Marbach am Neckar, whose commitment had made it possible to issue the building permit in record time. 

Following the greeting, the groundbreaking ceremony was held and the construction phase officially started. The project team was pleased to be able to ring in the construction phase with this symbolic act and that the designs are now being turned into reality brick by brick.

"It’s nice to see something happening after four years of planning. Seeing the project on paper is one thing. When you are standing on the site and realizint how the planning is being implemented, it’s a great feeling”, commented Marcel Steinmüller, adding, “We are pleased that we were able to recruit the same people to our team who were already significantly involved in our last construction project.”

This ultimately shows that EgeTrans feels very comfortable in the current building and that the past cooperation has been great fun. In addition, it helps during planning that the team knows the existing building very well and that a lot can be transferred to the new building. When we say, “We want it to be just like this”, the people involved know what we’re talking about, he added. That makes a lot of things easier. 

Cyril Probst, Managing Director SCHATZ projectplan GmbH underlined this assessment and thanked the company in return for the trust they placed in the company: “I would like to thank Peter and Marcel Steinmüller for allowing us to provide the planning services for architecture, structural engineering and technical building services for this remarkable construction project.” 

Following the official groundbreaking ceremony, this important milestone was celebrated with the entire EgeTrans team in an after-work event. During this evening, the employees were able to get to know the project better: learn background information, gain insights into the planning and find out about the next steps in the construction process.

There will be a lot going on at the construction zone in the next few weeks. The excavation pit will be trenched by August and around 300 piles will be drilled into the ground to secure it. This will be followed by the construction of the shell. The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

What is being built on the area?

The development of the area provides for two structures, which are connected by a continuous base floor and thus combine the two purposes “living and working”. In total, an above-ground usable area of approx. 4,812 m² will be created. The underground usable area of approx. 6,271 m² is distributed over two basement levels and provides space for approx. 174 underground parking spaces as well as for basement, technical and secondary rooms. The basement levels will be constructed as a water-impermeable white tank. Additional 34 car parking spaces are to be created outside. A bicycle room with space for up to 85 bikes is located on the first floor.

From the second floor up, the two purposes will be evident in the form of individual structures. The lower building structure is intended for commercial use and will provide space for around 120-130 office workstations. The building at Ludwigsburger Straße 70, which was completed in 2017, is already reaching its capacity limits, as the logistics service provider has experienced very strong growth since moving into the new building.

And the signs continue to point to growth. Longterm, consistent planning is therefore enormously important, says EgeTrans CEO Marcel Steinmüller. “At the current time, we plan to use all of the newly created commercial space with EgeTrans itself. But you never know what the future will bring. That’s why we are also planning flexibly here with divisible commercial units – just as we did with our last construction project. We can rent out individual spaces to third parties in the event of a downturn in business.” Currently, around 200 employees work at the Marbach headquarters, with a further 30 at the locations in the USA (Chicago) and Mexico (Santiago de Querétaro).

The office units are complemented by a large foyer and a B/STRO with an attached kitchen area for food and drinking. The offer is aimed at employees of the companies located on site as well as their visitors. In the evening, the B/STRO can be used by the building’s residents as a lounge and communal area.

It is important to the managing Steinmüller family that, in addition to the commercial use, living space is also created for the employees. Therefore, the final urban element of the ensemble is the eight-story residential building, which contains 20 residential units. Sufficient parking spaces are to be created in addition to a two-story underground garage, in which 174 parking spaces are planned, in the outer area of the site. 

As with the existing building, the technology used in the new buildings is intended to be resource-efficient through the use of renewable energy. The roof area of the existing building is largely covered with photovoltaic panels, which provide solar power with a nominal output of approx. 50 kWp.

By using geothermal energy, it is possible to completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels for heating and cooling buildings. In this process, a heat transfer fluid circulates in a closed pipe system underground and absorbs heat from the ground. This heat is released at the surface to two brine-to-water heat pumps.  Two additional air-to-water heat pumps are used to cover peak loads. Gray water is recovered via cisterns and used for toilet flushing.