Trading floor of Stock Exchange
As part of the renovation the trading floor of the stock exchange building got a new air conditioning system. © Kieback&Peter

The splendid old stock exchange building in Frankfurt, recognizable from TV, is the most important trading location in Germany for stocks. Deutsche Börse AG ensures that stock traders always have the best working conditions on the trading floor of the building in the city of Frankfurt. This also includes the smooth operation of the building technology. Kieback&Peter integrated the controls of the new air conditioning system during the renovation of the floor. This supplies each workstation in the trader’s paddock with individual cooling and fresh air.

Optimized working conditions for stressed brokers

Deutsche Börse AG opted for a comprehensive renovation of the trading floor in 2006. The renovation included a new illuminated ceiling and an ergonomic reconfiguration of the workstations, among other things. At the same time, the building contractor replaced the 30-year-old air-conditioning system with a more efficient one. The engineering consortium Ingenieurgemeinschaft Jäger Plomer PartG mbB took on control and regulation planning.

Operators and control and regulation planners entrusted Kieback&Peter with finding a solution for controlling extracted air, cooling and fresh air, based on positive experiences on other projects. Deutsche Börse wanted a solution to suit the sometimes heated stock exchange action, giving each workstation the ability to regulate the conditions in their own “paddock.” The stock exchange traders (“lead brokers”) of the individual brokerage firms work there: In a fraction of a second, they make deals, buy stocks or sell off stock packages. The conversion of the trading floor provided 77 workstations for them in seven newly designed paddocks.

The experts from Kieback&Peter also needed to integrate the regulation of the air-conditioning system on the trading floor into the building control technology of the old and new stock exchange. The buildings are linked via Ethernet using Neutrino-BMSs from Kieback&Peter.

A further challenge was to carry out the work during normal stock market operation. Deutsche Börse was confident about Kieback&Peter’s flexibility on this point, which had already been demonstrated in earlier projects. The expert team worked with passion from the word go. Every single employee put their heart and soul into the project, taking weekend working and other unusual schedules completely in their stride.

 

The face of the German Stock Exchange: The facade of the old building in Frankfurt city center.
Kieback&Peter ensures ideal stock exchange working conditions with this precision control of the air supply © Kieback&Peter

Cooling and fresh air in the workplace

Since the conversion of the trading floor, facility managers have been able to supply fresh and cooled air with complete precision. The conditioned air flows into a double floor under the workstations of the traders and flows out of the base area of the newly designed paddocks.

Kieback&Peter installed type FBR5 room and ventilation controllers, which have a “three-stage cooling” function, in each workstation. These ensure that the fan draws in the supply air over the floor in three steps, compensating for temperature differences. The facility manager can control the supply individually using single room controllers. Fan coils that are not visible to users ensure that heat and extracted air from PCs is dissipated. These are also controlled with the FBR5 controller.

The Kieback&Peter team set up the DDC3000 automation system for the large trading floor, connecting the workstation controllers with the building control technology. Three DDC3200 controllers ensure that facility management can access all zones centrally.

The Neutrino BMS building management system undertakes any monitoring and optimization needs. Kieback&Peter linked this with the building control technology of other Deutsche Börse AG properties in the neighborhood. In this way, the operator can monitor and operate all systems from one of five PC remote controls (PHWIN).

 

The face of the German stock exchange: The facade of the old building in the center of Frankfurt © Kieback&Peter

Trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange - A Summary of the Technology:

  • 77 FBR5 controllers: Individual room controls for cooling and ventilating broker workstations
  • Three DDC3200 automation stations control and monitor the individual room controls
  •  Neutrino-GLT facilities management software enables operator monitoring and optimization of multiple properties
  • PC remote access using 5 PHWIN workstations