Uniline Safety Systems

Restoration marks a new beginning

On 30 October 1991, the Council of Elders of the German Bundestag decided that Paul Wallot’s historic building should be restored and used as the seat of the new all-German Parliament. In ruins after the war, the Reichstag Building had been rebuilt in the 1960s but not for permanent use as a parliamentary building.
Following an international design competition, on 21 June 1993 the Council of Elders chose plans submitted by the British architect Sir Norman Foster for converting the Reichstag Building into the new seat for Parliament.
The new German Parliament consists of four buildings in the centre of Berlin: the Reichstag, Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus.

The challenge

In recent years, the German Bundestag has developed into a major visitor attraction. According to its website more than 13 million people have visited since the transfer from Bonn to Berlin.  

Such an attractive, culturally and politically significant building demands a high standard of preservation and this has posed a host of challenges for those involved in its maintenance.  Not least for staff working at height on the glass facades and 75m-high dome. 

Installing a series of systems to ensure that maintenance staff can work safely at height is key to the ongoing upkeep of the building. The first hurdle to achieveing this at the outset was to find a safe, appropriate and cost effective solution for guaranteeing the safety of workers at height that wouldn’t damage the features of the building.

Gardening at height

The roof terrace and dome of the Reichstag Building offer an incomparable view of Berlin’s parliamentary and government quarters.  While visitors dine in the roof garden restaurant, gardeners must maintain the plants several times a year. In addition, maintenance staff need to care for ventilation, photovoltaic, heating and air conditioning equipment.  To allow the workers access to these services and ensure their safety, the client identified a need for a fall protection system of lines and anchors on which the workers could secure themselves. 

In March 2004, Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH, the Birkenwerder-based system integrator was appointed to install 12 Uniline systems and 13 single anchor points across the two roofs of the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus.  These systems were chosen for this project because the Uniline synthetic cables are non-abrasive meaning that they do not damage the surface of the glass.  Also the span between each anchor is relatively long compared with traditional systems.  The result is that fewer roof anchors needed to be installed and the integrity of the building was ensured.

Cleaning windows

To maximise the amount of light entering the glass roofs and to maintain the appearance of the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, the glass façade needs to be cleaned both inside and out. Each pane of glass is fixed so it cannot be opened or dismantled to allow cleaners access to each side. This meant they would need to be supported both inside and outside the structure.
To overcome this problem, systems installer Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH adapted an existing Uniline product for this unusual application.  It used traditional facade anchors as end anchors (CAM 0872, 0870) and the universal anchors for the intermediate brackets (CAM 0869) to support a Uni-8 fall protection system on the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus.  Uni-8’s in-line energy absorbers were key to protecting the structure of the building and the stainless steel cable complemented the materials of the structure and were barely recognisable to the naked eye.  Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH was the only installer capable of providing these systems as they are patented in Germany and all nine were installed within one week (October 2004) so that work would not be delayed.

The glass elevator

Within the Paul-Loebe-Haus, 16 glass elevator cabins run up and down transparent shafts.  While this gives the passengers a view of their journey, the glass needs to be kept clean to maintain the appearance of the building. Workers also need to be able to access the lift shafts for repairs.  The safety of staff working in the elevator cabins and lift shaft was paramount, and the working environment posed a number of safety risks.  The facility managers needed to find a system which would ensure the safety of workers in the lift shaft and, at the same time, not spoil its appearance.  In autumn 2005, Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH was asked to present a solution against a competing business. 

The key issue facing Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH was that there was no existing anchor on which to hang the fall protection systems and the steel beams of the shaft had very low tolerances.  Absturzsicherungen Birkenwerder GmbH proposed the installation of two UNIRAIL systems from Uniline for each elevator coated in the same colour as the existing steel. Each was secured with six screws at strategic points on the steel beam between the first and the second floor. The proposal was selected for its design and quality and the fact that it was significantly more cost effective than the nearest competitor.

The UNIRAIL provides a continuous attachment where the fall hazard exists to support multiple users.  The UNIRAIL was designed specifically to accommodate the changes in gradient and direction to fit the curvature of the building.

Ongoing maintenance

The roof anchors and brackets fixed on the German Parliament buildings remain to allow ongoing cleaning and maintenance of the building. Without these, designed and installed to a challenging specification, workers would not be able to operate safely at height and the appearance and condition of the building would suffer as a consequence.
For the next decade, staff will have a safe and reliable method to carry out essential maintenance work to keep the parliament buildings façade and windows clean. The system is also cost effective so financially it means that the government does not have to pay for specialist and potentially obtrusive safety equipment each time they want to clean the windows.