Buildings avenue de la Gare

This is a very technical project at 29-31 and 49-51 Avenue de la Gare in Luxembourg City. Two locations where Félix Giorgetti demolished existing buildings to make room for a new mixed-use structure. There was one constraint, however: the historic facades had to be preserved and restored. A mission that was carried out in collaboration with the architect of the National Sites and Monuments Service. This major demolition phase required securing all the neighbouring homes.

For lot 29-31, the teams stabilised the 370m² of facade and pinned the two adjoining gables over an area of 880m². The existing buildings were demolished and 28 tie rods installed under the facade to be retained.

The project consists of two underground levels and seven above-ground levels. It includes 2,300m² of offices and 876m² of retail space. The structural work began in late September 2021 and is scheduled for completion by the third quarter of 2022.

With regard to lot 49-51, the 198m² of facade were stabilised, as was the adjacent roof, and an adjoining gable of approximately 225m² was pinned. For this project, which stretches from Avenue de la Gare to Rue du fort Neipperg, the earthworks proved more complex than anticipated, as our teams had to dig through very hard category 7 rock. It took a 100-tonne excavator ripper, a rock breaker, a disc saw and a milling saw to clear the 18,000 tons of excavated materials to be removed.

Work in restricted spaces, a real challenge for logistics

This work is a real challenge for our teams who have to work in very restricted spaces and demonstrate exemplary capabilities in terms of logistics, as many factors make their progress more complicated: road and pedestrian traffic which cannot be interrupted, access to the site, the use of heavy-duty machinery, shift work scheduling, relations with local residents and noise pollution, among other things. Some work, such as casting concrete slabs, is carried out at night to make sure teams can proceed without blocking street traffic.