City stages rely on ELA room solution

The building complex consisting of the opera house and theater on Offenbachplatz in the center of Cologne, Germany is currently undergoing major renovation work and being extended. As part of the project, the stage equipment is being updated, a new children’s opera house and small theater are being added, the acoustics in the halls are being optimized, the building technology is being upgraded, the energy efficiency of the existing buildings is being improved, and accessibility is being addressed. 

The contractor managing the project on behalf of the city of Cologne, Munich-based Building Construction Logistics (BCL), has rented two ELA construction site container units, each with 40 room modules, for approximately 18 months. 

With 80 modules in total spanning 1,200 m², there is plenty of space for offices, toilet facilities and first-aid areas. ELA Container also supplied the furniture required (tables, chairs and lockers) directly. 

“There’s hardly ever enough room on building sites,” said ELA Sales Representative Dennis Schmidt. And the situation is usually worse in city center locations like Offenbachplatz in Cologne. “It was good news for this project that four ELA containers can be stacked on top of each other. We seized this opportunity for both buildings so we could make the best use of the space available for our client.” 

Mobile ELA concrete bases were used to ensure leveling and stability for these tall units with four floors each. As per the standard procedure, the units were delivered on ELA lorries with the use of a loading crane. Experienced ELA teams took care of the installation and handed over the units to the client when they were ready to use.

“Our client was very pleased and expressed their delight in an unusually creative way,” said Schmidt. The client even managed to come up with some potential new slogans for the room solutions from ELA – “Cologne’s old town style meets industrial design,” “Cologne just got edgier,” “Perfect practicality – squared,” and “Containerizing is state of the art.” 

The client was very happy with the ELA containers and confirmed that they would recommend the company as an experienced and efficient supplier of mobile units. “We were particularly impressed by the fast and clear response to the questions we asked and anything else we needed,” said Trümmel.

ELA Sales Representative Dennis Schmidt is also happy with the way in which the project progressed: “I’m delighted that we had this new opportunity to show off what we can do here in Cologne.” The close partnership with BCL as the client and the city of Cologne as the commissioning partner is noteworthy above all.