Rapid progress in expanding the infrastructure
Another aspect that should not be forgotten is the innovative power unleashed
by reinforced concrete in expanding the infrastructure. To take an example
from the field of structural engineering, the railroad bridge that HOCHTIEF built
in Lübeck in 1906/1907 deserves mention, as are the locks and turbines on
the River Weser near Bremen (1907/1909). Another civil engineering project
was the locks on the River Main between Oberrad and Offenbach (1898-1899),
east of Frankfurt.
New crafts and trades in the construction industry
The changes in the craft trades caused by new construction materials and
building styles were easily recognizable, but at the same time a less obvious
change was occurring in the skills and qualifications needed by building workers.
A new trade emerged: the formwork-builder, forerunner of today's concrete-builder.
It was also something new for construction companies to have workers on the
payroll with technical qualifications who could operate and maintain the new items
of equipment that were now necessary, such as pouring towers, rotating cranes,
and the first machines for bending and cutting steel.
Grain store built in barely one year
Even today we can still be impressed by the speed at which these enormous
structures were built - that is one of the other advantages of reinforced concrete
construction. HOCHTIEF, for instance, needed only a year to build a grain store
in Hamburg with a frontage 36 meters long. However, Philipp Helfmann did not
live to see this breakneck rate of development in construction technology;
when he passed away in 1899 his son-in-law, Hans Weidmann, took over the
Chief Executive position.
First branches open
Weidmann continued to manage HOCHTIEF successfully, even though he had
several crises to cope with. Nevertheless, he set the company on the right
course for the future. Under his management HOCHTIEF gained a foothold in
Berlin in 1906 and erected a number of buildings for the city council. In the
same year HOCHTIEF also won two orders from the Ruhr industrial area, as it
was now operating more and more on a national basis. In parallel with its
expansion, it also set up its first branch operations. HOCHTIEF survived the
first world war without suffering any major setbacks.
