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 - for example by bike or on foot (© Daniel Barthmann) Start slideshow

Hamburg has ceased to grow on its greenfield periphery. Instead disused 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 climatic goal of a 20 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. Innovative supply of energy and heat in HafenCity is expected to cut emissions by as much as 40 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.  Per hectare in HafenCity, there will be 94 residents and 355 people working locally. 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 high density of uses with a high proportion of public spaces and low proportion of necessary access roads.

Urban structure

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

Buildings and infrastructure need to be adequately protected against noise emanating from port activities on the southern side of the Elbe and traffic in eastern HafenCity. Arrangement of buildings, orientation of reception rooms and special window-reveal liners will all aid noise reduction. Hamburg port planning regulations restrict noise from port installations still operating south of the river.

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

Mobility

HafenCity can anyway be reached easily without a car. The proportion of motorized individual transport is to be reduced to well under 30 percent (Hamburg average: 47 percent) through an intelligent traffic concept and excellent public transport connections. From 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 refill at a new climate-friendly 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. Several bicycle rental points make a CO2-free tour of HafenCity possible. HafenCity is also part of the Hamburg electromobility model region.

Thermal energy

All buildings in western HafenCity are connected to district heating networks. 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 the so widespread gas-fired heating supply. A European tendering process for heat supply in western HafenCity 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, fed by various power units both within and outside HafenCity. A woody biomass-fired combustor, a biomethane fuel cell and a heat pump – almost all renewable energy sources – will be deployed. 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 neighborhood. Flexibility was a crucial factor in this tender: since development of HafenCity will continue into the 2020s, future energy demand cannot be estimated accurately at this stage.

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, these building types may also be certified as of 2010. At least 50 percent of buildings in central and eastern HafenCity should match up to the very demanding and continuously increasing requirements of the Ecolabel in gold.

Ecolabel in gold and silver

The 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 builders 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 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 Unilever building, 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. 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. In the heating plant in western HafenCity, a pilot fuel cell project is in operation. And at Oberbaumbrücke, Europe’s largest public hydrogen service station is being built. In future Hamburg Hochbahn’s fleet of public hydrogen-powered buses will refill here.

Osaka 9 – the Sustainability Pavilion

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