Northern entrance to the trade fair centre

With its three subsidiaries, Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe GmbH runs one of Germany’s most well-known venues; as the venue for trade fairs in Westphalia, it shapes the trade fair scene in North Rhine-Westphalia and – at its modern conference centre – it hosts over 1,100 regional and national conferences and congresses every year.

The new northern entrance to Dortmund trade fair centre was opened in March 2019.
The glass entrance hall is 14 metres tall and covers an area of 4,500 square metres.

“This building is an anchor in the strategic development of Dortmund’s trade fair centre,” explained Sabine Loos, CEO of Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH.

“With its 4,500-square-metre transparent hall, the new entrance to Westfalenhallen has become a real eye-catching feature, marking Dortmund out as a modern location for trade fairs and conferences,” explains mayor Ullrich Sierau. “With this multi-million investment, Dortmund and Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe are showcasing its most attractive side. The new face to Dortmund trade fair centre is dazzling the region and beyond.” The new entrance to the trade fair centre offers a huge number of improvements for both visitors, exhibitors and organisers alike: uniform, barrier-free visitor guidance from the foyer into all key trade fair and events halls, quick and contemporary visitor management using modern technology and better quality visits thanks to additional catering areas.

GU solution: solutions for doors in escape and rescue routes

Construction work took place in 3 entrance areas:

  • 10 Escape route sliding doors (HM-F FT)
  • 10 escape route sliding doors (EM-F)
  • 20 Turn-Only emergency exits secured with Schüco (BKS special control unit for escape doors) escape route security system (integrated into door leaf), touch bars and escape door strikes

How the sliding doors work:

  • Escape route
  • The inner sliding doors serve as a security door, which is why they take the form of escape route sliding doors with the HM-F FT outbreak function that can be locked using the emergency opening function via the FTNT escape door control unit in the control pillar
  • Automatic opening when a fire alarm system (FAS) is triggered
  • Automatic opening of the sliding doors when triggered by the fire brigade, SHEV ventilation opening
  • Central visitor circuit:
    All sliding doors change to "Automatic" or "Open mode" via a central switch – needed when large numbers of visitors are moving

How the Turn-Only doors work:

  • Escape route secured
  • Activation via FAS
  • Local activation on the door using the emergency push-button integrated into the door

GU group solutions for escape and rescue routes