In July 2017, approval was granted for the building construction of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts campus on the Suurstoffi site, in Switzerland. Building construction work on the CHF 195 million project commenced immediately. Three buildings of a total of 26,000 square meters area rentable office space and commercial space were to be constructed. Around 70% of this space had already been leased long-term to the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and was occupied by Autumn 2019. The second stage of this building construction project was to be completed by the Summer of 2020.

As with its recent projects, the developer, Zug Estates was relying on BIM (Building Information Modelling). In conjunction with Lean Construction, this methodology leads to improved planning reliability and execution quality. Two of the three buildings (House ‘A’ and House ‘C’) were being constructed using the timber hybrid construction method. All timber elements were produced from the 3D architectural plans in the ERNE AG (Ltd.) Holzbau Factory Delivery was affected in modules on a ‘just-in-time’ basis, which significantly shortened the building construction time on site. After completion, the new high-rise building on the Suurstoffi site was the tallest wooden building in Switzerland at a height of 60 meters. The previous record holder was the S22 high-rise building, on the same site.

House ‘A’: Suurstoffi 2/4 | 15 stories | 60-meter building in height
House ‘B’: Suurstoffi 1 | 6 stories | 25 meters building on height
House ‘C’: Suurstoffi 6 | 7 stories | 30-meter building in height