THE PROJECT STUDIED

The project studied was Friedrichstadtpassagen, lot 207, in Berlin Friedrich-straße. It is one of the largest developments in Berlin, sharing the whole site (consisting of three lots) with two other, similar developments. The total investment sum is DM1.4bn. Lot 207 will provide 19.000 sqm of offices, 2.000 sqm of shops and 15 apartments, plus underground parking services, offering 300 places for a contract sum of around DM176m. The client in the end was a Franco-German joint venture of developers: Roland Ernst, Dresdner Bank, SGE Immobilière and CBC Immobilière who formed EP Europrojektentwicklungs GmbH. The main commercial user is the French department store group Galeries Lafayette. The structure of the investor's group is shown in figure 1. The execution of the project was given to the French construction firm CBC (not iden-tical with CBC Immobilière, although belonging to the corporate group), who won the tender. CBC acted as a Generalübernehmer. The Generalübernehmer in Germany is normally responsible for the whole project from the design to the handover of the building to the client3. But in this case the architectural design was the responsibility of Galeries Lafayette, and they chose the French architect Jean Nouvel, of Nouvel Cattani Associés. The structure of the project coalition is shown in Figure 2. A Generalübernehmer has not to, but can, himself contract for the construction trades and so did CBC here. The structural works were undertaken by the Austrian firm Maculan, who acted in some respects as Generalunternehmer. A Generalun-ternehmer normally is responsible for the execution of the whole building. The main difference was that Maculan here was responsible only for the structural works. They themselves engaged for the different parts of the works different subcontractors - all non-German. Façades, services, and finishing works were contracted for directly by CBC themselves. Contractors and subcontractors for these trades were either foreign or small local firms. The engineering design services came from German engineering firms. Works on site started June 1993, and the building was opened on the 29th February 1996, one year later than planned.