World of PORR 164/2014 PORR Updates Topping-out ceremony for Media Center in

At the topping-out ceremony, held in the future newsroom on Topping-out payment as "compensation for pain and 20.3.2014 following a one-year construction period, the Styria suffering" Media Group AG Executive Board took the opportunity to Styria Media Group CFO Malte von Trotha presented the thank the project team and the 110 or so workers. The project topping-out payment to the construction crew, represented by for the media company's new home remains on time and on PORR site manager and general foreman Walter Sommer. As budget. The keys to the 60 metre-tall building are due to be von Trotha emphasised, the fact that this happened to be handed over in December 2014. Sommer's last project before his retirement was a particular honour for Styria. The site supervisor team also received a topping-out payment or, as the CFO joked, "some sort of compensation for the pain and suffering caused by all the changes we made".

A happy gathering The official part of the ceremony closed with the topping-out toast spoken by an apprentice, who took a long pull from a wine glass only to shatter it on the floor, in line with tradition, for good luck. This received enthusiastic applause from the gathering, which also included Klaus Schweighofer (Styria Executive Board Member), Nicola Kasakoff (Styria), Josef Praschinger, Othmar Ederer and Patrick Pongratz (Grazer Styria CFO Malte von Trotha presents PORR site manager Walter Sommer Wechselseitige), Hermann Eisenköck and Martin Priehse with the topping-out payment. Image: PORR (ArchConsult), as well as Hubertus Kröll and Oduala Olugbenga (PORR). Some 85,000 man-hours, 18,000 m³ of concrete, 1,800 tonnes of steel and 13 completed storeys: the topping-out (Author: Styria Media Group AG) ceremony in the shell of the new Styria Media Center in Graz (Conrad-von-Hötzendorfstraße) offered the perfect opportunity to thank the project team and site operatives for all their hard work and commitment. "Although we have not quite topped out yet," said PORR Branch Manager and opening speaker Peter Schaller, "we wanted to hold the ceremony while all the workers were still on site."

Relocation in 2015 Excavation at the site had started a good year earlier. Only little work now remains before the building shell, with its 60- metre tall office tower and 18,000 m² of office space, is complete. Currently the biggest building construction scheme in the province of Styria, the facility is due to become the Styria Media Group's new home as of 2015. The building, situated in the Jakomini district of Graz, will house 1,200 state-of-the-art workplaces.

"Prime strategic location" Markus Mair, Chairman of the Executive Board of Styria Media Group AG, described the topping-out ceremony as a "beautiful moment". As he sees it, an enormous amount has been achieved since the go-ahead was finally given in the wake of extended deliberations as to whether and what to build. The new Styria Media Center is the "gateway to Graz city centre", occupying a prime strategic location from where the core markets – including and – are easy to reach and can even be seen from the top storeys. Mair thanked the workers and the architect team from ArchConsult for creating a "gorgeous building" and the Grazer Wechselseitige for its project management services.

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