Munich—One of us

"There's a lot going on underground," says Carola Wieser.

At some point in her youth, she once had the idea that in her professional life she would stand in the mud with rubber boots and work in environmental protection. Today, Carola Wieser, born 1988, is in fact often in the mud with the boots. She is building a new S-Bahn station with platform tubes in the heart of Munich.

"I am responsible for geotechnics, that is, everything that has to do with soil and groundwater," says the young mother, who works part-time and whose daughter has just become a year old. Since HOCHTIEF builds in Munich at a depth of up to 40 meters, the groundwater must be lowered over a large area. For this purpose, more than 100 wells and groundwater measuring points were built in the middle of the Bavarian metropolis – not an easy task in the confined spaces both above and below. Wieser: "We can't just use the drill and then start. After all, there is a lot going on under the earth: Metro tubes, fresh and wastewater pipes or power lines should preferably not be taken."

Among the further tasks of the geologist, who has a doctorate in rock mechanics and tunnel construction, there is the monitoring of how the construction works affect the environment. For this purpose, a whole lot of measuring technology was installed in and on the buildings, in the streets and in the excavation walls. If, with all due care, any setting or deformation should occur outside the standard, Carola Wieser, who has been working at HOCHTIEF since 2017, knows what to do: She sounds an alarm.