Construction Diary

February 2023

Today, the brackets for the solar panels were installed using spacer profiles.
The first solar panels are installed. With the help of a crane, the pallets were lifted onto the roof.
The roof of the production hall 3 has also finally got its hat. The next step is to neatly pull and connect the cable tangle.

February 2023

Things are getting underway again. Today, the floor rails for the solar plant were moved onto the roof of production hall 3 and the green roof of the parking deck.
In the next step, the floor rails were laid out according to plan and mounted on the production hall roof.
Our green area of the parking deck is next. Here, too, the soil rails have already been laid out. The dream of the own tomato bed was probably for the cooking pot.

2019

Our new quality class 1 and 2 calibration room! It was very interesting to see how a conventional assembly room becomes a carefully sealed class 1 calibration room. With consistency and control of temperature, humidity, dust protection, etc. By the way, a 3-D cooridnate measuring machine of the highest accuracy works here!
… to be continued …

2016 - 2019

Hello construction diary - here we are again! What a lot has happened since 2016!
The new building in daylight! Downstairs, the heavy CNC machining centres are at work, followed by assembly with smaller machines. One floor higher again, the technical office and the sales department communicate daily with the whole world. At the very top - set back by a sunlit terrace - is the large training room 1 and the management. The wish to install a whirlpool there is still under consideration ...
Let's take a quick tour: the picture shows the new, bright assembly rooms. Our plug gauge (BMD) is assembled here, for example.
Let's continue with the tour: Our new calibration room offers many possibilities for testing, from DIATEST products to external measuring devices. More about this later...
Let's jump to the second floor, to the sales and technical office rooms. From here, people talk to all the world, write quotations, process orders and occasionally share a pizza at lunchtime.
The top floor contains the new training centre of the DIA-@cademy, which organises the annual "Open Day" (TdoT). A small but fine event with invited guests from business and science.

April 2016

Beginning of April 2016: Almost complete! Our new building, photo taken at 9 p.m. The staircase seem to glow in bright blue colour from within itself!
The new staircase, seen from the inside: the stairs appear to float weightlessly; note the blue LED illumination
…while the future office floor is still calm and quiet.
The first cabinets and tables are placed in the upper floor…
During the course of the day more and more machines are installed in the production hall
The relocation finally starts. The first machine seems to be lost in the new production hall.

March 2016

…meanwhile the furniture is placed and assembled in the office floor.
Finally: the office furniture is here! The new chairs are stored at the moment in the future production hall…
…but the first table is placed in the future canteen, although it is only a pasting table.
The hallway in the basement still looks a little bit “uncomfortable”…
… the roofed inner courtyard is now nearly finished
This solid platform helps to bring the heavy machinery into the new production hall…

February 2016

The future passage for the trucks still needs some time to be ready.
Now, it does not take long anymore until the first machines will be installed.
The stylish shaped Cube for printer, fax and other devices seems to illuminate from within.

January 2016

… while it is still in use in the stairway, e. g. the paneling of the wall heating.
The scaffolding is partly removed from the building…

December 2015

… while the screed in training room I dries slowly.
The fully glazed front is installed…
… View at the office floor from the other side. Meanwhile the screed is dried.
The screed is laid in the future office floor. Front row right the future cabin for printer and plotter, followed by a conference room…

November 2015

Woe to he who loses the perspective. Data- and telephone cables run like veins through the building.
… and seen from the future terrace.
The future training room I, seen from inside…
A circular roof window on the fourth level brings lots of light into the staircase.
Finally the frame is covered with walls and roof to protect the ventilation system. On the left side you see the newly installed skylights for the inner yard.
… then it was lifted by a crane to its future location. The little dab next to the “flying frame” could have been a plane – but there is no plane seen on the other photos. The photographer swears that there was absolutely no plane around at this time! The Truth is out there, somewhere
The frame for the ventilation system is assembled on the car park in front of DIATEST…

October 2015

… and prefer instead to pose for a photo on the future terrace. When one looks more closely, one can see the Hundertwasser-Haus in the background.
Our hardworking dealers from France and Mexico: they wanted to “roll their sleeves up” – until they noticed how heavy glass can be…
… where it is installed shortly thereafter.
The cooling unit „floats“ above the new building towards its future location…
… while the ceiling suspension is installed beneath the ceiling heating in the production hall.
The complex air ventilation system is installed in the basement…
… time to install the insulation, which is still stored in the future Sales Office.
Fall approaches – tree leaves turn golden, seen from the construction site…

September 2015

Busy men lay cables and pipes in the new machine hall.
The inner courtyard is paved at the moment. It has to be finished for the topping-out ceremony mid of September.
In less than 3 days the complete personal lift is installed.
The elevator shaft, seen from the 2nd floor. The guide rails are fixed.

August 2015

Our specialists from the Drone-Team are still seeking the little flying machine. But so far it wasn’t found, although the team is looking for it from the roof of our new building.
Do you recognize this little rascal? Yes, exactly, our little drone which was blown away by a strong gust last November while performing his duties.
The interior fittings are proceeding: pipes and power supply lines are installed in the basement of the new building.
First areas of the inner courtyard are already concreted: here the passage between production hall 1 (right) and the raw part warehouse (left)
View into the future roofed inner courtyard. To the left the production hall 2, in the middle background the entrance to production hall 1 and to the right the new production hall 3.
The newly laid screed in the new production hall. The height of the board shows the thickness of the screed, which is necessary to carry the heavy machinery.

July 2015

… and then transported away. Now the interior construction can start!
The crane was dismantled bit by bit…
… and this one? Correct! The crane is gone!
Who recognizes the difference between this photo…
… and enjoy the view of the Hundertwasser-Haus „Waldspirale“ (http://www.darmstadt.de/darmstadt-erleben/sehenswuerdigkeiten/waldspirale/) in Darmstadt.
A visit from Mexico: Our Mexican dealer and his wife (both with blue helmets) are the very first dealers entering our new building…

June 2015

… meanwhile the first beams for the roof are installed in the rear yard.
The elevator shaft is cased off during the works on the 4th floor, where the future training rooms will be…
… the floor for management and administration is nearly finished.
Bit by bit the new building grows…

May 2015

… meanwhile the construction workers are busy to set up new walls.
The 2nd floor is quickly build up…

April 2015

… the steel beams are prepared for the next floor.
While lots of freestanding props still determine the future production hall…
… while there is still a lot of work to do inside of it.
The general shape of the building is recognizable…

March 2015

The newly erected walls have still to be supported…
… the elevator shaft is prepared.
… which is pretty uncomfortable at the moment.
View from the staircase into the basement for the future social space …
The first walls of the first floor are set up…
… the perimeter insulation for the basement is attached.
While the temporary basement roof is replaced by a real one…

February 2015

… shortly afterwards you can walk on the temporary basement roof
More prefabricated walls for the basement are set up…
… and shortly afterwards the walls are ectually set up.
Preparations to set up the walls started…

January 2015

… shortly thereafter the concrete is placed.
The foundation is going to be prepared. On the right of the photo, the steel beams support the neighboring site…
… where one of the two diggings for the pump stations can be seen. These pump stations are necessary as the waste disposal pipelines are located a few meters higher.
Right at the beginning of January the excavations works continued. The rain water cisterns and the oil separator can be seen again for a short time. The I-Beams support the wall of the neighboring site. First parts of the bottom plate are casted,…

December 2014

… in another corner of the construction site the high voltage cable for the transformer station.
…. some construction workers have already reached the deepest level of the excavation. The base plate of the new building will lie significantly deeper than the one of the old fabrication hall…
In the from 2nd to 3rd December it started to snow: nevertheless the construction works continued. While some parts of the excavation haven’t reached yet the final depth…

November 2014

… meanwhile on the other side of the site huge 5 m high fire barriers are erected.
Next to the wall of the bordering building first concrete works for a stable baseplate are made…
… manual labour is still necessary.
The bottom plate of the new building will be a lot deeper in the earth as the one of the old and bordering building. To prevent the old building from collapsing the excavation works have to be done in a certain order – therefore the red numbers on the wall…
…Meanwhile DIATEST managing director Klaus Orio explains the construction progress to some DIATEST employees.
A special bottom plate is necessary for the 33 ton transfomer station. It will supply DIATEST with electricity in the future…
…Meanwhile the excavations works make headway. But still some more meters have to be excavated.
Major parts of the street „Schottener Weg“ are now used as storage for the building site…
… Afterwards the more than 4 m deep ditch for the foundation of the new building was ditched.
In the next step the big building crane was erected. An extra concrete foundation was necessary…
….They will carry the earth bolts which will secure the coming construction pit for the new building.
The rain water cisterns and the oil separator are buried in earth again, while a few meters away 4 m deep holes were drilled into the ground …
We needed some time to get it running. But after a while the drone was airborne – when suddenly strong wind gusts simply blowed off our drone. We never found it again. If you should look for it, find here the last photo taken shortly before it vanished
Drone urgently wanted – Gone with the wind. For more spectacular photos from our construction site we bought a drone which carried a camera.

October 2014

…In the end, the metallic object was nothing more than an old fencing post.
…So it came as it had to come – a metallic object was found when examining the ground by means of sonar. Right under the entrance to the yard, in a depth of 1.50 m. To exclude dangerous legacies of the last war a specially protected excavator had to be hired…
A somehow irritating discovery – what an old fencing post can cause. In former days people were digging for forgotten treasures. Nowadays you just hope not to find something unexpected …
…three huge rain water cisterns and one oil separator including all pipes and wires were put into the 6 m deep construction pit. Afterwards all four cisterns are covered with earth again.
Ecology practically applied – collecting and use of rain water. To be better protected against weather conditions, the back area of the yard will be covered by a roof. After removing the cobble stones…

September 2014

In the poem „Stufen“ from 1941, Hermann Hesse already said: „A magic dwells in each beginning“. It is quite funny that our construction started with a Dixi toilet.
Finally! Gods willing, we can start now. Well, actually the building authority in Darmstadt gave us their blessing. But anyway, we finally can start with construction.That is how the new office and production complex will look like end of next year: Additional 2,000 sqm office and production area. A palace made of glass and steel, including solar electricity and rain water cisterns.

May 2014

… The new office and production complex of DIATEST with more than 2,000 sqm floor space has become necessary due to the excellent order situation, the growing demand and the fabrication of new products and complete solutions. Additionally , DIATEST plans to increase the number of employees. Start of construction will be in August 2014
On May 12th 2014 the „Ground Breaking Ceremony“ for the new office and production complex of DIATEST took place. Numerous guests and business partners from Germany and abroad celebrated together with DIATEST in marvellous sunshine …