Creating complexion concistency in concrete

The building specification for Hall 1, South Entrance, at “Messe Düsseldorf”, stated that all the concrete surfaces in the interior and exterior areas were to be given a homogeneous appearance with a concrete cosmetic treatment. Thanks to MC's Emcefix concrete cosmetics, it was possible to retain the nature of the exposed concrete while creating a uniform and aesthetically appealing overall finish.

The Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre now boasts a new Hall 1, a covered exhibition and event area the size of more than two football pitches. There is also a conference area on the first floor. The new major hall can also be used as an event venue outside of trade fair bookings and, when equipped with rows of chairs, offers seating for up to 10,000 people. All in all, the construction project cost around € 140 million to complete.

 

Defects in the fair-faced concrete

As part of the construction work, an extensive concrete cosmetic overhaul was also implemented between August 2018 and September 2020. This was necessary because the appearance of the exposed concrete had been degraded by broken edges and joints, the sanding of anchor holes, and contact marks on precast elements, as well as significant colour differences, discolouration, trickle marks and stains.

 

Surface upgrade required

The client, Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, had specified a uniform and blemish-free surface appearance. Concrete cosmetic measures therefore had to be carried out on the entire exposed surface area, i.e. both on the in-situ concrete in the interior and on the precast elements around the exterior. The work was entrusted to Beko Betondesign from Düren (Germany), a specialist firm with expertise in the visual upgrading of fair-faced concrete. A regular customer of MC-Bauchemie, Beko has many years of experience in the field of exposed concrete design and has been developing its own methods and techniques on various projects worldwide since 1996.

Emcefix concrete fillers for finish perfection

 

Once the concrete surfaces had been prepared by thorough cleaning and mechanical fine-grinding, the actual cosmetic work could begin. Three products from MC's Emcefix range were used to repair unevenness, patch and fill pores and blowholes, and reprofile spalled edges and anchor holes. Contributing to sustainability, all three systems are low-VOC according to Germany’s AgBB code, are DGNB-registered and meet the highest environmental standards.

 

Emcefix filler G lang, a product characterised by normal hardening for better handling, was chosen as the coarse filler. It serves to repair deep defects such as chipped edges and corner spalling, formwork ridges and anchor holes, and can be applied in maximum layer thicknesses of up to 25 mm in a single pass. The coloured surface finish of the exposed concrete was achieved with Emcefix filler F lang. This fine filler also exhibits normal hardening and thus allows  longer application times for more thorough working. It resists temperature swings per EN 13687-3, is colourfast and comes in seven different shades with lightfast pigmentation, making it suitable for both interior and exterior applications.The superfine filler Emcefix-Spachtel F extra fein then ensured an excellent exposed concrete finish. This product is ideally suited to meeting the highest aesthetic demands regarding the fineness of texture and colouring of fair-faced concrete.

 

MC’s concrete cosmetics thus made it possible to remove visual blemishes from the surfaces without compromising the nature of the exposed concrete. The result: A uniform, natural look with a highly appealing complexion, bearing testament to the outstanding performance characteristics of MC’s Emcefix range.