30 years of BAL: From construction management to the management of complex construction projects
Büro Am Lützowplatz (BAL), milestones, projects
Berlin 1988: The walled-in city of West Berlin is crowned as the European City of Culture and attracts more than a million visitors from all over the world. In Berlin-Tiergarten, at Lützowplatz 7, Büro Am Lützowplatz, or BAL for short, is founded. The founders’ attention is entirely focused on Melsungen in northern Hesse, where BAL is appointed to manage a complex construction project on the B. Braun site in Melsungen. Hardly anyone suspects that only a year later the Wall will fall and the city will change forever.
The 1990s saw BAL take a lead role in a series of prominent public construction projects in Berlin. The breakthrough came in 1996 when Lord Norman Foster was commissioned to oversee the redesign and redevelopment of the Reichstag parliament building. One year later, BAL joined the project as a general planning partner under Prof. Hans Kollhoff of the Federal Foreign Office. This raised BAL’s profile and enhanced the company’s reputation as a reliable and ambitious partner for complex projects involving the protection and restoration of landmark historic monuments.
BAL is synonymous with continuity and the company increasingly accepts commissions from private clients and thus safely steers its staff through a period of reduced public-sector spending. The lean years end in 2006 with BAL’s first university project, the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, which is followed by five more projects. BAL succeeds in winning a series of commissions for projects, including a high proportion of heritage protected buildings in Berlin: the Staatsoper, the Berlin State Library and the Pergamon Museum. These projects are not always easy, but they lead to an enormous increase in expertise. In order to build on its expertise, BAL launches its own planning department in 2011, which will become a BIM nucleus in years to come.
Berlin 2015: More than anything, the city needs new housing. BAL adds a new string to its bow and now serves private-sector clients in the residential construction industry.
BAL, which now employs 100 architects and engineers, has maintained its core competence of construction management to this day, constantly updating its methods. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the key to BAL’s future. In 2016, the company adopts a BIM strategy and sets a 2020 deadline for implementing all major project management processes with BIM technology.
B. Braun plant in Melsungen
The newly founded BAL GbR completes its first complex construction project, which remains a prime example of sophisticated industrial architecture to this day.
1992 Hamburger Bahnhof – Berlin
For the first time, BAL is involved in the restoration of an architectural monument that is to be repurposed as a major cultural venue in a sensitive dialogue between tradition and modernity.
1996 Reichstag – Berlin
BAL manages the reconstruction of the Reichstag building in close cooperation with Norman Foster. This prestigious project represents a real breakthrough for BAL. The company is able to demonstrates what it can do, under intense public scrutiny.
1997 Federal Foreign Office – Berlin
As general planner for the Federal Foreign Office in the former Reichsbank building in cooperation with Hans Kollhoff, BAL defines the context for future projects.
Büro Am Lützowplatz GbR becomes BAL Bauplanungs- und Steuerungs AG
2002 Quartier 110 – Berlin’
With the conversion of this listed building into a modern office and residential building for Zürich Versicherung AG, BAL establishes the third pillar of its business: private-sector clients.
2003 Messehaus am Markt – Leipzig
Redevelopment and remodelling of the commercial buildings Messehaus and Messehof for the private-sector client MIB AG
2004 BAL Bauplanungs- und Steuerungs AG becomes BAL Bauplanungs- und Steuerungs GmbH
2006 Campus Westend Goethe University, RUW – Frankfurt am Main
The new home of the Faculty of Law and Business Administration is the first in a series of university projects.
2010
BER Berlin – multi-storey car parks, car rental centre, offices and staff facilities, repair shop and vehicle hall.
With its involvement in the major BER project, BAL demonstrates what good project management can achieve: All construction works were completed on schedule in May 2012.
Staatsoper Unter den Linden – Berlin
The renovation and conversion of a true cultural institution is the prelude to a number of major projects with a high proportion of listed buildings.
Pergamon Museum – Berlin
With the general refurbishment and extension of the Pergamon Museum, BAL manages a major project while the whole world looks on.
2011
Staatsbibliothek – Berlin
Refurbishment, redevelopment and extension of a national and world cultural heritage site, the largest academic university library in the German-speaking world.
Launch of BAL’s in-house planning department
2015 Boxhagener Straße – Berlin
The construction of an entirely new urban quarter with 620 apartments on the former Freudenberg site heralds the start of BAL’s commitment to private residential construction.
2016 The adoption of a BIM strategy paves the way for the future.
2021
BAL moves diagonally across Lützowplatz and opens its new headquarters at Schillstraße 9
