Tower ONE at Frankfurt Outgrows Itself

This Project Spotlight features the completion of a German high rise with KONE equipment.

photos by Hans-Wilhelm Berghoff

When visiting the construction site in the summer of 2020, the ONE office and hotel tower in the Europe Quarter in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, had reached only 20 out of 49 planned floors, respectively ca. 190 m, as was reported in detail in Skyline Plus “ONE”. The current images and additional explanations give an impression of the operation of the ONE Tower since summer 2022. 

In October 2018, the cornerstone for ONE was laid. Only 28 months later, in April 2021, the building shell was finished. On schedule in July 2022, the skyscraper was finished completely. On June 30, the official final acceptance of the work was carried out by the public construction supervision. The installation of the entire building’s services technology, such as cooling and heating, the fire alarm systems and all elevator systems, was carried out technically without objections; the systems are fully functional. 

ONE is accessed via 21 elevator systems from KONE, 12 of which have direct dialing, an access control system with readers and software for controlling the elevators. The systems transport people and loads with a maximum lifting height of 189 m and speeds of up to 7 m/s (25.2 km/h). For the first time in Germany, in ONE, 10 fast elevators to the upper floors are also powered by KONE UltraRope^®. These belts, with a carbon fiber core and plastic coating, replace traditional steel ropes. 

The safety of people in the building during use is safeguarded. The first office tenants (co-working provider Spaces, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, consulting firm Baker Tilly, KROONGARD and Cloud Imperium Games) were able to move in after the formal acceptance. The 4-star superior nhow Hotel also opened to guests on August 1. 

In July 2022, WiredScore awarded the building the SmartScore certificate in the highest category — platinum — as the first high-rise building in Germany and Central Europe. The project has already received the WiredScore platinum certificate for best connectivity and the platinum pre-certificate from the German Sustainable Building Council (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen DGNB). 

In August 2022, ONE was nominated for the International High-Rise Award 2022/23. The tower, designed by Frankfurt architects Meurer Generalplaner, is one of only four in Europe — a total of 34 in the world — selected by the jury from approximately 1,000 applications. 

On September 8, 2022, after four years of construction, CA Immo opened ONE with a ceremony attended by the Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus; Frankfurt City Councilor and Head of Planning, Housing and Sport Mike Josef; and around 300 guests. Sinemus emphasized: 

“Digitalization shall contribute to solve our climate and sustainability problem. With the planning and construction of ONE, you have taken a decisive and important step in this direction.“