Ahmet Karadirek

The foreman

By definition, the foreman is the "manager authorized to issue instructions to the industrial employees on a construction site". Ahmet Karadirek doesn't have to think long about whether that sums up his job correctly. "It sums it up pretty well. I organize things, order materials, assign people, check their work." Not always easy. In any case, it's a job in which the 44-year-old is constantly caught between the blue-collar and white-collar levels, between site management and subcontractors. There are sometimes conflicts that need to be resolved. In such cases, Ahmet Karadirek, who comes from Turkey and now lives in Heiligenhaus, is needed. He originally trained as a concrete worker 24 years ago at the Düsseldorf branch, where his career at HOCHTIEF began. He has been a foreman for two years now. Karadirek: "I've learned a lot from my older, more experienced colleagues. That's how it works on the construction site." This teamwork is what the father of two particularly likes about his job. And: “Everyone can see the great buildings that you create with your work. That makes you proud.”

Burcak Yalaman

The man for the harmonies

Burcak Yalaman's email signature prominently displays the word "Glückauf", framed on both sides by mallets and iron. "Anyone who has ever worked in tunnel construction uses this greeting," explains the civil engineering graduate. Yalaman was born in Turkey and has lived in Germany since 2012. Even as a child, he was so fascinated by buildings that he decided to build them himself one day. At the top of his list of favorites: the (first) Bosphorus Bridge, built in Istanbul in 1973. For a long time, he was unaware that HOCHTIEF had helped build it. After working on various infrastructure projects in different countries, he joined us in 2018. Here he works in controlling for the new A1 Rhine Bridge. "My job is to ensure that the technical team and the purchasing team can work in harmony," says Burcak Yalaman, describing his job. Every day, he says, it is important to find the right balance between the top quality that is always strived for and what is economically feasible. "It's like an orchestra, everyone plays their part. But it's only together that the really good sound is created."

Corinna Sassen

The woman for big money

Corinna Sassen (and her colleague Mona Kramer) handle the "big money"—not the real bills and coins. But: "On the one hand, I make sure that all the bills are paid so that the boys and girls can continue building the Leverkusen Bridge. And we write our invoices so that money comes in," explains the young woman, who is (co-)managing the commercial side of the project. In addition, Sassen, who started as a trainee at HOCHTIEF in 2019 after completing her business studies, takes care of what is sometimes disrespectfully referred to as "paperwork": certificates for minimum wage or insurance, for example, monthly financial statements, contracts with partners and much more. All things which are absolutely essential, without which no stroke of work can be done. In her free time, Corinna Sassen spends a lot of time with friends and family, and is out and about at concerts and festivals in Germany. Music style: rock/metal. Corinna Sassen: "My older brother influenced me. When we were out and about in his car, it was always 'We listen to my music or none'. Everything else didn't stand a chance."

Bastian Bergmann

The perspective player

The 25-year-old doesn't yet know exactly what Bastian Bergmann will be responsible for when the new A1 Rhine bridge towards Dortmund is built. One thing is clear: he will be in charge of one of the many sections of the project. But which one? "That's still to be decided," says the young man, who is currently working as a trainee for HOCHTIEF. Like many of his colleagues, Bergmann came into contact with the company during his studies as part of an internship. He then worked as a student trainee and is now a trainee in Germany. "I started here in Leverkusen, then I worked at the HOCHTIEF branch in Cologne, and my next stop was the A7 tunnel project in Hamburg-Altona. In the course of 2024, I'll be managing the construction here," says the enthusiastic footballer, who regularly plays for his club SV Herbern in the district league at the weekend. He talks about his experiences on the job so far with similar enthusiasm: "Every day is different, I take an incredible amount with me because so many worlds come together." The atmosphere on the construction site is very good and "you get a grin on your face - if you don't already have one."

Henning Osthaus

The man for timing

In life, things don't always go as planned. Of course, this also applies to the large bridge over Germany's largest river. For many reasons, the current situation on a construction site can be different from what was originally planned. When this situation arises, it is Henning Osthaus' turn. The 30-year-old, who is responsible for scheduling and work preparation on the construction site, works with the other companies involved in the work to determine what is done when. He makes sure that the relevant processes are timed correctly and sees to that the individual processes interlock correctly. Most of the time, everything runs smoothly, but sometimes the actual and target states have to be reconciled. "Disruptions are part of day-to-day business, we are prepared for them. We have ways and means of reacting to them," says the civil engineer, who often swaps the office for the garden in his free time—although the term "garden" is somewhat misleading: On the family farm near Witten, there are 6,000 square meters to keep in shape.

Ahmad Alomar

The digital heart

To describe Ahmad Alomar's job, we need to expand a little: it's about "Building Information Modeling" (or "BIM" for short). This is a process for networking and managing information in the planning, construction, scheduling and management of buildings with the help of special software. The 32-year-old is the BIM coordinator at the Rhine Bridge. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that BIM methods are used on the construction site. "It's not just about ensuring that the countless data generated by a construction project like the Leverkusen bridge is recorded digitally - and is available accordingly," explains Alomar, who left his native Syria in 2015 and initially continued his civil engineering studies in Cyprus before completing them in Germany. While he was waiting to be recognized as a refugee in Germany, he also taught himself German. "All the data that is generated must be linked together so that, for example, the entries in the digital daily construction reports automatically transfer up-to-date information to the 3D model of the structures to be built and to the schedule," says the BIM expert. If everything is synchronized, the 3D model automatically receives an update as soon as progress is recorded in the daily construction report. Incidentally, the man who makes this and much more possible is currently working on a personal "upgrade": Ahmad Alomar, who has been with HOCHTIEF since 2019, is studying mathematical-technical software development at the distance-learning university in Hagen, where he lives, alongside his job.

Rüdiger Spengler

The man with the overview

When building a bridge, a lot of planning is done without question. It is just as clear that someone has to have an overview of the whole "planning" process. At the Leverkusen bridge, Rüdiger Spengler is taking on this job. The planning manager coordinates the various planning tasks and the work of the planning offices. These are not only used for the bridge, but also for falsework or auxiliary foundations, for example. "When the relevant documents are available, they are first checked in detail," explains Spengler. "Among other things, we check whether the geometry fits, the loads are calculated correctly and the client's requirements are met." Only when everything is right does the 46-year-old, who worked in Spain for many years before joining HOCHTIEF in 2021, give the green light for construction. Currently, the biggest challenge is to plan the demolition of the existing bridge so precisely that the new construction towards Dortmund can start on time . Despite all the planning, it is of course important to retain a certain degree of flexibility. Spengler, who enjoys running and cycling in his spare time, knows: "Particularly during dismantling work, you often come across things that can seriously disrupt a schedule that has been planned down to the last detail." Then you have to plan again.

Yannis Schwarze

Likes surprises

Yannis Schwarze, Project Manager Rhine Bridge Leverkusen, was already the 1st site manager for the first bridge section. He gets up every morning with a pretty precise plan of what's coming up that day. "And I can be sure that half the time it will be completely different." It is precisely this variety, the constant challenge, that the Dortmund native appreciates about his job. Challenges, anyway. They're important outside of work, too. "I switch off well on the racing bike. Best when it's steep and long uphill, because then I can't think about anything else." Complex projects, lots of contact with people, "an incredibly steep learning curve" and all in teamwork - for the passionate sportsman, all things that round off the positive picture surrounding his job. The civil engineer found his way to the company via a six-month internship on a HOCHTIEF project. That was five years ago. At the time, his work was so well received that the project manager asked him if he would like to stay on. Yannis Schwarze wanted to.

Jan Felgendreher

The boss

Head of the bridge construction department, project manager for the first bridge section

“Every leader should have children. They will demonstrate your limits.” Jan Felgendreher has two sons who went to school in England, because until 2012 he worked eight years there for HOCHTIEF. The 53-year-old managed the further construction of the first section of the bridge and pushed it forward quickly. Because as a Cologne resident, he has been stuck in traffic jams here often enough. Hesitating, having reservations, hedging his bets before he takes the next step—you can imagine Jan Felgendreher as really quite the opposite of this. A guy like a tree—frank, hands-on, straightforward. “Yes, I’ll do it”, was also his reaction when HOCHTIEF hired him as a site manager after he finished studying engineering in 1996, and on the very first day of his professional life he was able to participate in building the B9 road tunnel in Bad Godesberg. “I have never regretted it,” says Felgendreher after a quarter of a century at HOCHTIEF. “Every day I learn something new and I am constantly amongst people from very different constellations.”

Mario Dinkic

Right on schedule

Jumping out of an airplane without a plan makes little sense. Hardly anyone knows this better than Mario Dinkic. After all, the enthusiastic skydiver has done it more than 900 times—but never without a proper briefing beforehand. And because a goal without a plan is only a wish, this maxim also applies to his job. At the Leverkusen construction site, the Düren native has taken on the role of planning coordinator. "I am the interface between construction planning and execution," is how the 33-year-old describes his job. On the one hand, this applies to deadlines, but also to the actual construction. That’s why the civil engineer is often on site, ensuring that construction pits are excavated or temporary noise barriers erected as planned. Dinkic adds: "If, for example, a gas pipeline is affected by the demolition of the old bridge, I make sure that everyone involved in the process, such as the demolition company or the pipeline operator, knows exactly what needs to be done at all times." Planning is half the battle, and not just in the air.

Robert Büchel

The numbers man

Anyone who sends an invoice to their client should justify it well. Robert Büchel takes on this task. For example, if the 49-year-old does not write down exactly how many square meters of frost protection layer or how many cubic meters of concrete HOCHTIEF has processed in the past month, the company is in a fix. Büchel, who enjoys traveling in his spare time, has been working for HOCHTIEF for almost 30 years. He first trained as a carpenter, then started out in the first year of the then newly founded HOCHTIEF Academy and finally graduated as an engineer. "I then somehow slipped into my accounting job," recalls Büchel, who is currently working on several construction projects (including numerous bridges). His documents for HOCHTIEF's invoicing department are often 200 to 300 pages long, with each item neatly listed and documented. This is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, as the numbers man knows: "Construction managers don't usually like doing this." It's good for HOCHTIEF that people like Robert Büchel sometimes find their calling when they simply "slip into" something.

Robert Grummel

The problem solver

Robert Grummel grew into his job in the classic way. His father, a civil engineer himself, took him to construction sites at an early age. During school vacations, he worked as a laborer in masonry crews. "Actually, I was always convinced that this wouldn't be my thing. But after a short time, my interest was piqued and I started to get excited about construction." The path: high school graduation, military service, studies in Braunschweig and Aachen, trainee start at HOCHTIEF in early 2018, construction manager since 2020. In Leverkusen, he is in charge of the construction of the foreland bridge. This is the part of the Rhine bridge that is still on land and crosses it in a prestressed concrete structure about 400 meters long. Besides organization and planning, an important part of his job is solving problems. As is always the case in life, these usually crop up when you need them least. "In this case, a quick and pragmatic solution is needed so that the whole construction site doesn't come to a standstill," Grummel knows. A classic case: an important part is missing, procurement actually takes a week, but the thing has to be there tomorrow. "Then we organize it with our people and pick up the part ourselves." And it's up and running again.

Nico Krämer

Burning with enthusiasm

When Nico Krämer isn't taking care of the work instructions on the Leverkusen bridge, for example, specifying work steps and sequences or the use of individual construction materials, he's at the grill. "I'm a passionate griller, so I fire up the grill every weekend in the summer and get to work," Krämer says. The Langenfeld native develops similar enthusiasm as he does at the barbecue when he talks about his work. "I became a civil engineer to build bridges." So he's in the right place in Leverkusen. Two weeks after handing in his master's thesis, he started at HOCHTIEF in 2019. Since then, things have been going smoothly for him. "As a young engineer, everything I do is for the first time. That's challenging, of course, but also very exciting." Leverkusen is his third project in two and a half years - and all have been fundamentally different. A lot of new and exciting instead of “schema F.” Krämer is certain: "It can go on like this."

Bettina Henneke

Committed to the family tradition

"It stays in the family"—this saying fits Bettina like a glove: "My great uncle helped build the old Leverkusen bridge in the 1960s as an assembly supervisor for steel construction," says the civil engineer, who trained at RWTH Aachen University. When she told her grandmother's brother that she would now be helping to build the successor structure, he was pretty excited - to say the least. "He's incredibly pleased that I'm not only continuing his profession, but a core project of his career to boot." The construction manager, who does a lot of extensive sports (triathlons, marathons) in her spare time, is overseeing the fabrication and installation of the precast concrete elements on the new bridge, which will be laid on top of the Strombrücke. This is the bridge that runs directly over the Rhine. Henneke has been working for HOCHTIEF, her first employer, since 2017. She was keen to be part of the mega construction site on Germany's largest river because of the size of the project and, of course, the family connection. Incidentally, Henneke, who now lives in Cologne, was born in the city whose name is borne by both the old and the new bridge.

Uwe Schenk

Learned from scratch

If you look up the term "learning something from scratch" in the dictionary, you might actually be referred to Uwe Schenk: His father worked as a craftsman at Holzmann. "When I was stumbling through life somewhat disoriented after being with the Armed Forces, he gave me a choice: 'Either you look for an apprenticeship or I'll get you something,'" he recalls. His father made good on his promise. Schenk completed an apprenticeship as a special construction worker/industrial carpenter at Holzmann. After this apprenticeship and several further training courses (including industrial foreman), he joined HOCHTIEF in 2000. He then studied at the HOCHTIEF Academy. In Leverkusen, Schenk is site manager for the construction section on the right bank of the Rhine. When asked about the most exciting project of his career, the father of a son does not have to think long: a caisson in Düsseldorf. This is a concrete structure on which an excavator is placed that digs its way down with the structure.

Helmut Kereit

Caretaker and bumper

Helmut Kereit is the oldest on the site. His job title: senior foreman. Sounds like a boss. And that's exactly what it is. Kereit organizes, schedules, orders, controls, and takes care of things. At the same time, he is something of a buffer between the site management and the staff. When things go wrong, it's usually with him. "But don't worry. I'll get it sorted out." The way Kereit says it, people believe him. "They all know me here," says the man who has been with HOCHTIEF for more than 40 years. Too many construction sites to remember them all, but "I've liked it everywhere." Over the years, things have changed. The projects. The way of building. The people who create with it. "When I look at the work polishers of today, they do lack a bit of strength or confidence," he finds. "I don't have a problem at all if someone doesn't understand something and asks. But keeping your mouth shut and pretending that everything is fine even though nothing has been understood, that's just not on."

Yasemin Krämer

Doesn't buy your everyday stuff

To say that Yasemin Krämer has a long shopping list to work through is a slight understatement: She buys almost everything (for exceptions, see Martin Asmann, among others) that is needed in terms of work and materials for the construction of the new Leverkusen highway bridge. "This ranges from bored piles and sheet piling to the containers in which the construction site management works, lightning protection and the diving work," explains the mother of two daughters, who likes to do handicrafts in her spare time and is active in the charitable association "Kölner Herzkissen". "Small items such as hammers, nails and the like, on the other hand, are not part of Krämer's remit. If necessary, the on-site crew can request them directly from the company's own electronic catalog. Just like in a proper household, the same applies on the construction site: things have to be there when they are needed. "The road surface for the new freeway lanes is also on my list," says the certified business administrator, who has been working at HOCHTIEF since 1995. "But I won't order it, of course, until I get the green light for it if construction progresses accordingly."

Martin Asmann

The trailblazer

Whether professionally or privately - somehow Martin Asmann's life very often has to do with water. The father of three, whose professional life began in 1989 as a carpentry instructor at a former HOCHTIEF subsidiary, is not only a passionate surfer and swimmer. He is currently helping to build a bridge over one of Europe's largest waterways. Across a river in which even a skilled athlete like him would never swim because of the dangerous current. His job at HOCHTIEF is work preparation. This means that Martin Asmann is not a permanent member of the respective construction team. Rather, he comes into play at the very beginning of a project, in this case during the (re)tendering of the bridge construction. "I calculated what we needed in terms of formwork and scaffolding, obtained the relevant bids and, after the contract was awarded, concluded the contracts." His current job was a bit trickier than usual because HOCHTIEF was not starting from scratch in this particular case, but individual things were already in place. Asmann: "We had to look closely at what was still missing or needed to be replaced. Only then did we order accordingly."

Jörg Hoffmann

Safe is safe

Mowing the lawn in sandals? That would never be an option for Jörg Hoffmann. After all, he works for HOCHTIEF as a safety and environmental protection engineer. That's why, even in the garden at home and in his private life as a whole, the rule is: Safety First!

Like Martin Asmann, the father of four children is not part of the permanent crew on the bridge. Together with his colleagues, the graduate civil engineer is responsible for safety on construction sites throughout Germany. Hoffmann: "I check on site whether the work safety rules are being observed. In Leverkusen, for example, we have also worked out a rescue concept for access to the deep excavation pits in cooperation with the local fire department, just in case."

Hazardous substances can harm employees, but also nature. This is not the only reason why environmental protection is given equal priority in Hoffmann's focus. "Sustainability is a very important issue for us." In the past, ecology and economy often got in each other's way. Today, things are different. "It is significantly more expensive to take construction waste to the landfill than to recycle it - or to avoid it altogether." In other words, if you get it right from the start, you'll not only protect the climate, but also your bottom line.

Renate Schönfeld

The concrete expert

Renate Schönfeld's workplace is just under 60 kilometers from the Leverkusen bridge. In her laboratory in Duisburg, the concrete we install has to prove itself. "My job starts with checking the requirements for the individual concrete components of a project and compiling the required concrete types for the tender. During the course of the project, I check whether the concrete installed also meets the required properties," says the Cologne native, describing her work. In addition, Schönfeld manages one of HOCHTIEF's three test centers. There she monitors whether the building material is being used correctly, i.e. whether the strength is correct in the first instance. For this purpose, concrete cubes are produced on the construction sites and brought to the laboratory. "There we check the compressive strength of the concrete," says Schönfeld, who has been working at HOCHTIEF for more than 20 years-and has put tens of thousands of cubes under pressure during that time. Even in her free time, the mother of a daughter can't really get away from the building material. "I also tinker with concrete at home, and have already made bowls, candlesticks or even Easter eggs out of it for friends and relatives." Whether her gifts are well received? "Well, so far no one has complained."

Philip Schulze

The man for everything

Philip Schulze is project manager. He was already deputy project manager and senior site manager during the construction of the first bridge section. This made him the interface between project and construction management. Kind of the "man for everything". Schulze had and still has to keep an eye on the big picture: Deadlines, costs, quality. Sounds stressful. "That's right," says the Sauerland native, who lives in Cologne and therefore has a lot on his desk. Nevertheless, he enjoys his job. Incidentally, he chose it not least because of an interesting presentation by a civil engineer at a job fair. Originally, he wanted to become a doctor, like his father. But then everything turned out differently. The father of a young daughter, who is also renovating his own house, likes above all “to be involved in creating something.” For example, a building that will last a long time. In this context, the beautiful word “pride” comes up. “I haven't been in the profession that long,” says Philip Schulze. “But when I show my children in 20, 30 years what I helped to build, I imagine it will be very nice.”