The seminar “Practical Construction Operations” (6.0 ECTS) took place for the sixth time in collaboration with the IBB of the TU Wien (Vienna) and Wiener Linien. This year, the six participating master's students dealt with construction operations and construction economics tasks for the “Extension of Halle Erdberg” project (construction of a parking and maintenance hall including associated ancillary and office space). The special feature of this construction project is the variety of options. The students' elaboration of different design options for the building is intended to serve as a basis for deciding on the actual scope of the planned construction project. To this end, the students were divided into three groups of two.

Groups 1 and 2 had to develop concepts for the construction process and for construction site logistics, as well as a technical report for the implementation of the construction work, determine rough costs for the overall performance and draw up a construction schedule. Group 3 was tasked with examining the project risk management. The main risks and opportunities of the various options were to be identified, evaluated and assigned to the project participants. These risks and opportunities were quantified on the basis of the work of groups 1 and 2.

In the last week of September 2024, an intensive project week took place at the Wiener Linien premises in Erdberg. During this week, the students were able to familiarize themselves with the tasks for the first time, visit the construction site and the surrounding area, and take the opportunity to obtain expertise from Wiener Linien on the issues. Challenging aspects included the implementation of vibration-intensive construction work next to existing tracks, dealing with existing properties whose structural condition is unclear, and the placement and dimensioning of cranes on the construction site. At the end of the project week, the first results and proposed solutions were already available and presented in an interim presentation. In the following weeks, the students continued to work on the tasks at home. At the beginning of November, the interim results were presented again in Erdberg.

After a briefing by the IBB assistants, the students presented their final results to Wiener Linien and IBB employees at the beginning of December. The audience was enthusiastic about the presentations and the numerous ideas and solutions. Nothing stands in the way of holding the seminar again next winter semester!