{"id":12110,"date":"2020-10-29T15:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12110"},"modified":"2020-10-29T15:00:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T15:00:07","slug":"a-german-construction-disaster-comes-to-a-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/a-german-construction-disaster-comes-to-a-close\/","title":{"rendered":"A German Construction Disaster Comes to A Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally! After years and years of delays and billions of euros over budget, Berlin’s new airport BER will finally open this Saturday, October 31. Just so you get an idea of how big a deal this is: The airport was supposed to open in 2007. You read that right, not 2017, but 13<\/strong>\u00a0years ago<\/strong>! The project gained a reputation as a terribly managed project, where the words schlimmer geht’s nimmer <\/em>(it can’t get worse) became schlimmer geht’s immer <\/em>(it can always get worse). But what made it so bad, and what finally led to its opening all these years later, or rather, too late? And how does opening an airport work in times of a Pandemie\u00a0<\/em>(pandemic) that cripples the Luftfahrt <\/em>(aviation) sector?<\/p>\n

The BER Disaster – Delays, delays, delays…<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Besucher<\/i> (visitors) at the construction site of the BER in 2020 (Image by reisetopia at Unsplash.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

It all started when Berlin was elected as Germany’s new\u00a0Hauptstadt\u00a0<\/em>(capital) after the Wiedervereinigung <\/em>(reunification) of Germany in 1990<\/a>. With Berlin being the capital, it needed a Gro\u00dfflughafen <\/em>(major airport). The gears started turning, and a plan was in the works. The location was to be right next to the existing\u00a0Sch\u00f6nefeld <\/em>(SXF) airport. After a failed privatization in 2003, the first delay ensued, making the 2007 deadline impossible. So with public funding, the Bau <\/em>(construction) began in 2006, with a target date of November 2011.<\/p>\n

But that did not happen. The project was\u00a0verschoben\u00a0<\/em>(delayed) and\u00a0verschoben\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0verschoben… <\/em>A total of 6 more times<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

In 2010, the second delay is a fact. The bankruptcy of a Planungsb\u00fcro<\/em> (planning office), an extremely cold winter and new EU-Richtlinien\u00a0<\/em>(EU Regulations) for baggage checks that require more construction are given as reasons for the delay. But, as B\u00fcrgermeister <\/em>(mayor) Wowereit presses: “Wir wollen, dass Druck im Kessel bleibt” (We want to keep “pressure in the kettle”, to keep up the pressure). The new deadline is a year later, in the summer of 2012.<\/p>\n

But, as you know, that date was missed too. This time, the delay came only a month before the planned opening. The\u00a0Brandschutzanlage\u00a0<\/em>(fire protection system) didn’t work as it should. With the delay coming so shortly before the opening, this delay was worse – tickets had been printed and sold, Fluggesellschaften <\/em>(airlines) had planned their move into the new terminals, even invitations to the Er\u00f6ffnungsfeier <\/em>(opening party) of the Flughafen <\/em>had been sent. The opening is moved up to March 2013.<\/p>\n

But when 2012 comes to a close, it is more and more obvious that there are major construction problems. Several areas have\u00a0Stillstand <\/em>(standstill), because contractors don’t know what to do when. In 2013, then, it becomes clear that there are tens of thousands of Baum\u00e4ngel <\/em>(construction defects). It was Chaos <\/em>(chaos).<\/p>\n

People and companies were fired, and a new Gesch\u00e4ftsf\u00fchrung <\/em>(management) was needed. Hartmut Mehdorn, previously the\u00a0Chef\u00a0<\/em>(boss)<\/a> of the\u00a0Deutsche Bahn\u00a0<\/em>(German Railway)<\/a> took the reins.<\/p>\n