Vilnius aims high
Skylum, Vilnius (LT)
A city with great prospects also needs large buildings. The two skyscrapers of the “Skylum“ project mark a beginning in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, which is predicted to have a promising future.
The Lithuanian capital Vilnius is considered one of the global cities of the future. This was recently given by the Financial Times in a city rating – they gave Vilnius top marks in categories such as lifestyle and cost-effectiveness. The Baltic city is worth living in. And that also brings investors onto the scene.
Skylum is the best example of this. Two 70-meter-high towers with 887 apartments are to revive a brand-new quarter on the outskirts of the city. The large-scale project will significantly change the appearance of the city. High-rise buildings are rare in Vilnius; Skylum is one of the first and largest to date.
SuperTube for the first time
This circumstance calls for an innovative drainage system such as SuperTube, which is being used in the two high-rise buildings for the first time in Lithuania. The Geberit system replaces conventional dewatering methods. Instead of three downpipes for grey and waste water as well as aeration, a single downpipe is sufficient. Thanks to water rotation in the pipe, an air column is created in the middle. This combines the function of all previous cables in one – and saves material and space significantly.
SuperTube is still largely unknown in the Baltics, but this is set to change with the Skylum project. Vytautas Dinda, Technical Advisor at Geberit in Vilnius and the surrounding area, says: “It is of course a challenge to enter the market with a completely new drainage system.“ He needed several consultations and training to get the planners on board. “Ultimately, the clear advantages in terms of space and material savings were convincing,“ he says.
But positioning the system with the planners was only the first step. “While the installers were installing the first downline, I received calls with detailed questions almost every day,“ says Vytautas Dinda. For him, this is part of the service offered during the introduction of a product. “I went to the construction site myself several times to train the installers, but also to answer questions on site and to inspect the situation.“
This close support should pay off in the long term. Both the real estate developer Omberg Group and the construction company Inhus Construction are internationally renowned companies. “And Skylum is one of the largest construction projects in Lithuania,“ adds Vytautas Dinda. And it is a forward-looking one: 700 Sovent fittings and around 2.5 kilometres of PE pipes speak volumes.
Know-how installed
Geberit SuperTube technology is based on the perfect interplay between system components, which enables drainage systems to be installed in a particularly space-saving manner in high-rise buildings. SuperTube means a parallel ventilation pipe is no longer required, creating more space for the residential and floor space. Pipelines with consistently smaller dimensions allow smaller pipe ducts to be used. Horizontal pipelines can be laid to a length of up to six metres without a slope to save even more space.
