Concepts

A City for the 21st Century

HafenCity is setting leading-edge standards for the future through sustainable urban development. Intensive re-use of old docks and industrial areas is enlarging Hamburg City’s area by 40 percent

As a closely-knit district, HafenCity encourages people to travel sustainably (© ELBE&FLUT / Thomas Hampel) Start slideshow

Hamburg has ceased to grow on country land on its periphery. Instead, in some cases, disused inner-city areas of the port are being recycled. Although sustainable development of HafenCity consists primarily of ecological aspects, economic and social factors are also crucial.  Medium to long term, HafenCity’s sustainable structure will contribute significantly to fulfilling Hamburg’s climate goal of a 40 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020 compared with 1990. In Hafen-City, innovative supply of energy and heat is actually expected to cut emissions by as much as 50 percent.

Land use

HafenCity is taking shape on 157 hectares of former port and industrial sites in a central location. In contaminated areas such as the site of the old gasworks (now southern Überseequartier), the soil was removed in an elaborate process, considerably enhancing the ecological value of this old industrial area and also significantly reducing the area of surface sealing of soil. Intensive use has been made of the ground as a resource through high building density: floor space indexes (FSI) range from 3.7 to 5.6 according to neighborhood, which is in line with density in other European urban centers. In HafenCity, density of uses is correspondingly high, with 94 residents and 355 local employees per hectare (land surface). New standards are also being set in terms of distribution of space. Road areas take up only 25 percent of land area (compared with 40 percent in Hamburg City), while 37 percent is available for publicly accessible open spaces, including the 3.1km riverfront on the River Elbe. Thus HafenCity creates a high density of uses with a high proportion of public spaces and low proportion of necessary access roads.

Urban structure

HafenCity is also characterized by a fine-grained horizontal and vertical mix of a variety of urban uses. Everything – homes, workplaces, cultural and leisure facilities, commerce – is close by, making for short distances. The close-knit network of non-motorized routes also makes use of private spaces. The loose-knit building structure and proximity to large expanses of water have climate-friendly effects. The resulting reduction in the so-called heat island effect in the city in summer cuts demand for air-conditioning while enhancing comfort at home and at work.

The waterside location and thus closeness to the existing port activities on the southern bank of the Elbe, as well as traffic noise in eastern HafenCity, set especially high requirements for buildings and infrastructure. Arrangement of buildings, orientation of reception rooms and special window-reveal liners all aid noise reduction. Hamburg port planning regulations also cap emissions from port installations still operating south of the river at their current level.

Another important aspect of sustainability is fulfillment of long-term flood protection requirements. This is achieved by constructing buildings on compacted plinths (warfts) 8 to 8.5m above sea
level. The basements inside them provide underground parking for cars. This means that stationary traffic consumes little space (also see p. 56).
 
Mobility

HafenCity can be reached easily without a car in any case. The proportion of motorized individual transport is to be reduced medium term to 20 percent (Hamburg average: 47 percent) through an intelligent traffic concept and excellent public transport connections. From the end of 2012 a new subway will be transporting up to 23,000 people daily. After the third new subway station opens at Elbbrücken, 35,000 people are expected to use the U4. From 2011, public buses will start refilling at a new climate-friendly hydrogen gas station.

Cyclists and pedestrians can cover the route between the new city district and existing city center in minutes, using an attractive and dense route network and numerous bridges. Seventy percent of foot and cycling paths run separated from motorized traffic on promenades, piers and squares; 30 percent run beside water. The first bicycle rental points make a CO2-free tour of HafenCity possible. HafenCity is also part of the Hamburg electromobility model region. The first recharging point has been installed in Osakaallee; others, integrated into private buildings, will follow.

Thermal energy

All buildings in western HafenCity are connected to district heating networks driven by combined heat and power generation. Decentralized heat supply combined with fuel-cell technology, geothermal energy and solar thermal energy produces an efficient blend of energy with CO2 emissions of 175g/kWh (in comparison: conventional gas-based heat supply produces average CO2 emissions of 240g/kWh). This is a reduction of 27 percent compared with widespread gas-fired heating. A European tendering process for heat supply in western Hafen-City in 2003 was awarded to energy supplier Vattenfall. Heat supply for eastern HafenCity will see CO2 emissions down to 89g/kWh – a considerable further reduction. After tenders had been invited from all over Europe, Dalkia Energie won the contract in 2009. Its concept is for a local energy supply network driven by combined heat and power generation fed by various power units both within and outside HafenCity. Almost all the energy sources deployed – a woody biomass-fired combustor, a biomethane fuel cell, a gas-fired combined heat and power unit, and a heat pump – are renewable. Wood combustion will fire one of three heating plants on the site of the former Hamburg Central Market in place of an existing wood burning unit. Because of its decentralized structure, the system can grow with the new city district. Flexibility was a crucial factor in this tender: since development of HafenCity will continue into the 2020s, future energy demand cannot yet be estimated accurately.

Buildings

HafenCity Hamburg GmbH developed Germany’s first certification system for sustainable building in 2007. Since then it has been awarding the gold Ecolabel for extraordinary attainment, and the silver Ecolabel for special attainment in realizing sustainable buildings. The award is designed to motivate private and public developers to handle resources responsibly. It evaluates the ecological, economic and social sustainability of a projected building.

Initially the Ecolabel applied to residential, office and special constructions. But since so many buildings with retail or hotel uses and multi-uses are going up in central and eastern HafenCity, certification of these building types has been possible since 2010.

HafenCity Ecolabel in gold and silver

The HafenCity Ecolabel can be awarded preliminarily even before construction begins. The developer submits the application by presenting planning documentation demonstrating the special or extraordinary sustainability of its building. After positive examination by an independent agency, the project receives preliminary certification. This gives buil-ders and developers the opportunity to convince potential buyers of the sustainability of their desired property in the early marketing phase. The final certificate is awarded after the project is completed, when implementation of sustainability standards are verified.

Certification breaks down into five categories:

• reduction of primary energy consumption well beyond statutory requirements for running a building
• sustainable management of public goods (e.g. using advanced sanitary equipment to cut water consumption); efficient use of publicly accessible areas and family friendliness in hotel and retail buildings
• use of ecofriendly construction materials free of halogen, volatile solvents or biocides. Use of certified tropical wood is appreciated
• special consideration of health and well-being such as comfortable room temperature, non-allergenic fixtures and fittings, reverberation and sound insulation, glare protection and air circulation in air-conditioned spaces
• barrier-free mobility and sustainable building facility operations, including low maintenance or use of durable materials

The HafenCity Ecolabel has proven a huge success: within four years, preliminary certification at the rigorous gold standard has been awarded or planned for 305,000 sqm; buildings include Katharinenschule primary school, the Spiegel group publishing building, the HafenCity University building, the Commercial Center building, the NIDUS joint venture building as well as an ensemble in Elbtorquartier to be occupied, among others, by Greenpeace Deutschland and the design center designxport. Unilever’s headquarters building received its gold Ecolabel in 2011 after successfully fulfilling pre-certification conditions. Tender invitations now increasingly require building projects to meet the stringent standards of the gold Ecolabel. In eastern HafenCity the aim is to achieve more than 50 percent gold Ecolabel certification for residential buildings. In future, the gold Ecolabel will be mandatory for buildings which include residential use.

Into the future through research

HafenCity is the site of a series of research and future projects: in Grosser Grasbrook, tests are under way to see how room climate can be dehumidified using geothermal energy. A pilot fuel
cell project is in operation in the heat-ing plant in western HafenCity. And at
Oberbaumbrücke, Europe’s largest public hydrogen service station opened in February 2012. Hamburg Hochbahn AG’s fleet of public hydrogen-powered buses will be able to refill here.

Osaka 9 – the Sustainability Pavilion

An overview of the HafenCity sustainability concept can be seen in the new Sustainability Pavilion “Osaka 9” on the embankment promenade on Magdeburger Hafen harbor basin. Since 2011, Hamburg’s year as “European Green Capital”, the 120 sqm exhibition space has provided comprehensive information about the sustainable development of HafenCity.