Krefeld, 4th October 2021 – It was literally possible to watch Europe’s most state-of-the-art mill “growing from the ground upwards.” And after two and a half years on site it has now been ceremonially opened. The GoodMills Group and ATP architects engineers were joined by numerous guests to celebrate the successful realization of the major project. ATP Partner Horst Reiner and Associate Partner Daniela Bedenk, ATP Vienna, were delighted to welcome Josef Pröll, General Director of Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs AG (LLI), the parent company of the GoodMills Group, Erwin Hameseder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LLI, and Frank Meyer, Mayor of Krefeld. “It was both impressive and amazing to see the results of our design work and to celebrate with all those involved,” said a delighted Horst Reiner. “I’m proud of the work of our team.Realizing a project of this scale so smoothly and so quickly is a real achievement.”
A million bags of flour a day and, thus, a secure supply for five million people – Castell Mill on the Port on the River Rhine at Krefeld is a production building of an unparalleled scale. “By meeting the very latest production and efficiency standards, the new mill is a technological landmark facility,” said General Director Josef Pröll, praising the project. The milling company GoodMills commissioned ATP’s Vienna office to deliver integrated design services for Europe’s most state-of-the-art mill due to ATP’s long experience of food production. The plant has an annual milling capacity of 408,000 tons of grain. By far exceeding the legal requirements in such areas as product safety, hygiene, and energy efficiency, the cutting-edge industrial complex creates a new benchmark.
In order to optimally support the buildings’ core processes – the milling of wheat and rye and delivery and dispatch of grain and flour, the ATP design team developed a simple, closed complex that is fully aligned with its function. The bulkier building elements (preliminary cleaning facility and grain silo) are arranged to permit trimodal cargo handling. In other words, the grain can arrive by train, truck, or ship.
A special challenge during the design and execution of the building was the slipform construction method, which was combined with conventional reinforced concrete. The principle reason for using formwork in this way was the rapid construction that it permits.
