Westend Gate

Traffic in Frankfurt high rise is upgraded with the addition and replacement of eight elevators.

With a height of 159 m and 47 floors, the Westend Gate in Frankfurt, Germany, is an unmistakable part of the city’s skyline. Built in 1976, the high rise’s vertical- transportation system was modernized by KONE between September 2015 and January 2017. Our team had to schedule several hours of intensive onsite work, while taking care not to disturb the many people staying and working within the complex, especially the Marriott Hotel, which has been the main tenant of the building since 1989. Often, meetings were held in the building’s courtyard to not disturb the hotel guests, and noise from the construction was kept to minimal levels.

Developer RFR Management wanted to make building transportation smooth and seamless. To minimize time and save resources, we began by improving ease of access to the building by refurbishing its doors and improving its secure entrance. Our KONE Access™ access-control system was integrated with the building elevators to improve security and efficiency. Our elevators were also equipped with advanced technology to conserve energy. While the old elevator drives had an estimated power consumption of 35 kWh, the new elevators use only 7.5 kWh. This and other energy-saving solutions played a role in getting European Union Green Building Certification for the building.

In addition to a new KONE MonoSpace® 700 service elevator installed outside the building, we renewed seven elevators within the building with our KONE ReGenerate™ 800 modernization solution and KONE Destination destination-control system. The latter was used to analyze the number of waiting passengers and the desired destinations to provide the fastest and most efficient routes. For VIP service for special tenants, these elevators can also travel to the basement parking areas. This required lengthening the shafts two floors further below.

We believe the successful implementation of new solutions will help create more awareness, with Westend Gate acting as a model for the modernization of more buildings across Europe.

Acknowledgements

Drees & Sommer provided general construction management, Rudi Becker served as lift planner, and Dörflinger Elektrotechnik performed electrical engineering on the project.