1pm on the dot: The topping-out wreath is going up - a visible sign ofthe fast progress at the Maximiliancenter construction site. It’s a very complex and highly sensitive building site, said Ilja Keller, managing director for Ten Brinke, during the roofing ceremony, which guests from politics and business attended. Among them were Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan, head of the municipal planning and building control office Helmut Wiesner, retail association chairman Jannis Vassiliou and Bonn’s business development manager Victoria Appelbe.

A challenge which has been handled very well so far, because of acting in concert, as Sridharan emphasised in his speech. He thanked the Ten Brinke company for reconciling 36 part owners of the former South Development. „You have broken the Gordian Knot, we are getting an attractive entrance to the city centre now“, he praised and recalled the long discussions prior to the decision to build the Maximiiancenter.

About 8,000 tons of steel remain from the former buildings here, said project manager Moritz Tank. „I’m glad we got so far already - this project is an affair of the heart for me.“ Of course money played a role when it came to convincing the former owners of the properties to sell. But the performance characteristics of Ten Brinke convinced people too.

Owner of the Maximilandcenter will be the Bavarian Versorgungskammer (BVK) Munich. When the building is finished, the BVK will purchase it for 112 million Euro, confirmed Tank. BVK manager Paul Mair-Ludiwg came to Bonn especially for the roofing ceremony. He praised the shell construction and said smiling or grinning: „The site is practically dust-free, that’s unusual.“ He called the Maximiliancenter „a successful example for the combination of pension schemes, economy and trade“. He also mentioned that he sees it as a „positive development for the city of Bonn“.

Original text: Lisa Inhoffen
Translation: Mareike Graepel