Solid base thanks to emvau-schlacke

Küchen Aktuell is building a new market in Hamburg

Küchen Aktuell has opened its twelfth store nationwide in Hamburg-Rahlstedt. Each offers at least 150 kitchen programs. The building site at Merkurring covers 7000 m2, the built-up area is 5500 m2. In outdoor and indoor areas, 7000 t emvau-schlacke are used, which is known for its high load-bearing capacity.


K + A Küchen Aktuell GmbH from Braunschweig has been writing a success story since 1996 with the opening of its first store in Braunschweig. In contrast to their competitors, who focus above all on value for money, the two managing directors Karl Schmidt and Claus Küpers have developed a concept to combine price-conscious kitchen concepts with a distinctive service concept. The company’s motto is therefore “Service – Service – Service”.

From on-site measurement to computer-aided development of the kitchen layout, delivery and installation of the kitchen including electrical connections at the customer’s premises to inspection, Küchen Aktuell offers a complete service package that is only implemented by our own employees. The company therefore trains around 15 apprentices each year. In the meantime, the number of employees has risen to over 450, spread across eleven stores and the headquarters in Braunschweig. The new Merkurring store in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, which is expected to open in June 2008, will employ around 15 new staff. Heiko Brandes, site manager at Küchen Aktuell, explains the new building project as follows: “Our architect Kai Dunkel has developed a concept for our stores with a clear structure and a customer-friendly ambience. The new store will be very similar to the one in Halstenbek in the west of Hamburg”.

A proven team

The invitation to tender for this project was issued by the Copla architectural office in Berlin, which has already worked several times for Küchen Aktuell. The decision to carry out the earthworks, the pipeline construction and the outdoor facilities, paving work and greenery as well as the site management was made by Uhrbach GmbH from Brielow in Brandenburg, a garden, landscape and civil engineering company that had already done a good job at Küchen Aktuell market in Berlin-Tempelhof.

The Hamburg company K. Böttger GmbH recommended the emvau-schlacke of the Hanseatische Schlackekontor from Hamburg for the construction of the frost protection and base course. The water department of the Hamburg Authority for Urban Development and Environment agreed to the installation of the recycled building material in cooperation with the Hamburg engineering office Burmann, Mendel & Partner, which prepared the soil expertise.

7000 t emvau-schlacke for stability

A total of 7000 t emvau-schlacke are used in this construction project. Half of the ash comes from the producer MVB in Hamburg. The other half is contributed by the producer BKB from Stapelfeld. The material from Stapelfeld is used in the hall floor area. The structure consists of 20 cm of filling sand F1. It is followed by emvau-schlacke and the floor slab at the end.

In the outdoor area the material of the producer MVB is needed. It is more heavily cleaned and is therefore more suitable for outdoor use with a concrete paving cover. The improvement in quality is achieved by so-called integrated ash washing, which is currently only mastered by MVB and MVR at Rugenberger Damm in Hamburg harbour: The water supply in the ram deslagger is operated with a considerable excess of water in order to remove easily soluble salts from the slag. In this way, the chlorides can be reduced by approx. 50 percent. The excess water is then purified in a complex process to such an extent that it can then be used as process water in exhaust gas purification. The dissolved salts, especially chlorides, are discharged from the process via the HCl (hydrochloric acid) rectification plant.

Combination base layer helps saving time and money

The so-called combination base layer is used in outdoor applications. It offers great advantages over conventional base course construction. The formation between the frost protection layer (approx. 40 cm) and the second base layer (approx. 30 cm) is omitted, as is the proof of compressive strength of the first base layer required by RStO, which greatly accelerates the construction process and ultimately results in time and cost savings.

The high-quality material in both layers also improves the load-bearing capacity enormously. Due to construction traffic alone, the installed slag achieves much higher values than the required 120 MN/m2 after only a short drive – often up to 200 MN/m2. Since the building ground contains a lot of clay and therefore has a low load-bearing capacity, emvau-schlacke contributes to ensuring the stability of the terrain and the building.

Weather-independent installation

From the beginning, the material also offers a great advantage for driving on the site in bad weather conditions. At a construction site that starts construction in November and should be rainproof in March, all essential outdoor work takes place during the cold and humid autumn and winter months. The emvau-schlacke is practically insensitive to the weather, offers high stability immediately after installation and thus makes a decisive contribution to process improvement and comfort on the construction site.

Three times cheaper than natural stone

Another advantage is the price. Angelika Grüneberg, Department Manager Civil Engineering and Site Manager at Uhrbach confirms: “The emvau-schlacke is approximately three times cheaper than natural stone. In the age of increasingly scarce resources it must be underlined that emvau-schlacke also contributes to preserving natural materials such as sand, gravel and chippings. Thus the use of such products is an active contribution to environmental protection in the sense of the modern circular economy.

Norbert Westphal of Hanseatisches Schlackenkontor ARGE Distribution, in which the aforementioned company K. Böttger GmbH is also involved, also emphasizes that everything is done for the quality control of the product by external and in-house laboratories as well as the Institute for Soil Science at the University of Hamburg. In addition, the company is constantly working with building material producers to improve the building material emvau-schlacke and to develop new products.

Furthermore, a register ensures a complete documentation of all construction projects with emvau-schlacke, so that even years later it can be exactly traced where how much ash was installed. A take-back warranty ensures finally that with a renewed use of a property in the future the emvau-schlacke can be dismantled. Norbert Westphal expresses himself with satisfaction: “emvau-schlacke is an efficient building material, which is often still underestimated. We are therefore all the more pleased that we have been able to win such a well-known installer as Küchen Aktuell as a customer”.

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