New school building contract in Nuremberg: ZÜBLIN to build Martin Behaim Gymnasium using timber construction

STRABAG subsidiary ZÜBLIN has been commissioned by WBG KOMMUNAL GmbH to carry out the structural timber construction as well as the roof and façade works for the new Martin Behaim Gymnasium in Nuremberg. The timber construction project also includes the construction of a dining hall and indoor sports facilities. The design for the new school building comes from Vienna-based architecture firm Caramel.

The installation of 7,000 m³ of wood on a gross floor area of 30,370 m² will allow approx. 7,000 tonnes of CO₂ to be sequestered over the long term. Using wood as a building material ensures greater sustainability while also reducing overall construction time. The wood elements used in the building are prefabricated by timber construction specialist ZÜBLIN Timber at its Aichach plant, ready for assembly on site, thereby eliminating the curing times that are usually required when building with concrete. The school is being built using timber panels made of LENO^® cross-laminated timber, glued laminated timber and BauBuche. The façade, with a surface area of around 6,000 m², is being constructed by ZÜBLIN using a timber frame clad with wood slats.

“Timber is a key construction material in the transition to a more sustainable way of building. We are grateful for the contract and look forward to using our expertise in timber construction in order to build the foundation for a modern and more sustainable school,” says Klemens Haselsteiner, CEO of STRABAG SE.

“The Martin Behaim Gymnasium combines sustainability with elements of a modern educational institution. The new building will be able to accommodate even more students than before, with a versatility that offers new opportunities for state-of-the-art instruction,” explains Sabine Stahl, project manager at WBG KOMMUNAL GmbH.

Modern classroom atmosphere for even more students

The new five-storey school, designed to accommodate 1,700 students, consists of a rectangular building surrounding an oval inner courtyard with a glass roof. Arcades encircle the entire building. The school is connected to the dining hall and the indoor sports facilities underground through a 66-metre-long corridor. A garden is also being incorporated into the sloping roof. Sports areas and green spaces with bleachers facing the playing fields offer a wide range of uses during school operations. The indoor sports facilities and the dining hall will be shared with another school, the Neues Gymnasium Nuremberg. Following completion of construction, the two secondary schools will form a new school campus together.

ZÜBLIN making sustainable contribution to Nuremberg’s educational infrastructure

This is ZÜBLIN’s second major school construction project in Nuremberg in the last five years. In early 2022, Ed. Züblin AG, acting as general contractor on behalf of WBG KOMMUNAL GmbH, completed the Bertolt Brecht School Centre, the most modern and largest school complex in the region, with a total area of over 38,000 m² and a capacity for around 1,800 students.

ZÜBLIN Units:
- ZÜBLIN Subdivision Bavaria, Business Unit Nuremberg
- ZÜBLIN Timber GmbH
CONTRACT VALUE: € 50.6 million
ORDER BACKLOG: Q4/23
CLIENT: WBG Kommunal GmbH