Move-in of escalators

With 180 shops and 17 restaurants and eateries spread over 56,200 square metres of rental space, the Alexa shopping and leisure centre is one of the largest shopping malls in Berlin. The shopping paradise needed to be easy to explore, so good accessibility in the five-storey building was a must, but installing escalators and walkways in the existing building was a challenge. Schindler Aufzüge GmbH, a leading provider of elevators and mobility solutions, commissioned SCHOLPP to move in and install 40 escalators (weighing nine tonnes each) and four three-part moving walkways (each weighing a total of 18 tonnes) in four project phases. The move-in conditions were not exactly ideal. For example, two escalators had to be manoeuvred into the complex over a narrow balcony on the second floor without damaging the façade or the window opening. To protect the cladding, the installation team created a dedicated ramp. Even the parking locations for the two 100-tonne cranes had to be approved by structural engineers as there was a 1600-space underground car park below.