Munich, 29 August 2018 - On 14 August, just four months after the foundation stone was laid, the topping-out ceremony was celebrated for the new annex to the already existing building on the Taufkirchen site. Besides a good hundred HENSOLDT employees, our twelve construction workers, employees of the construction company Wayss & Freytag, the technical planning team* and the architectural office BKLS attended the celebration.
The topping-out ceremony is traditionally celebrated in Germany as soon as the shell and roof structure of a building are ready. The long tradition of the topping-out ceremony can be traced back to the 14th century and has a superstitious, traditional and social character. Even today, carpenters still rely very much on old customs and rituals. However, the topping-out ceremony used to be more important than it is today. The developer, in our case HENSOLDT Real Estate, thanked the craftsmen and organised a small celebration with food and drink.
The event was opened by site director Christian Ladurner, who expressed his sincere thanks to all workers and contractors involved in the construction. The speech took place on the ground floor of the new building, followed by the celebration with buffet and beer.
In keeping with an old tradition, the special saying could not be forgotten. Since the HENSOLDT extension doesn’t have a classic wooden roof truss, the honour of pronouncing the special saying fell to the construction manager instead of a carpenter. Construction manager Fabian von Zerboni started his rhyming Swabian welcome to the celebration with “grüß Gott beianand, ihr lieben Leut’, Richtfest feiern wollen wir heut,” on scaffolding, on the roof of the future showroom. In the course of his speech, Mr von Zerboni emptied several glasses of sparkling wine according to old tradition, which he then hurled into the excavation for the building. If the glass shatters, it brings the building’s owner luck and blessing and protects the new building from collapse. Long live Mr von Zerboni because he broke all of the glasses, bringing us good fortune.
As required by tradition, after the speech the topping-out crown was then pulled up on the construction crane.
* Planning agencies: Planungsbüro V-TECH (heating, ventilation and air conditioning); Zickler + Jakob Planungen GmbH & Co. KG (electrical installation); michellerundschalk GmbH (outside facilities); Hörmann + Bosch Ingenieurbüro f. Bauwesen GmbH (structural design & analysis) (not present)
