Leverkusen / Düsseldorf, 03.12.2021 – A lively, mixed-use urban quarter is to be created on the site of the current B8-Center at Werdener Str. 87 with the involvement of local residents and Düsseldorfers. The special thing about this is that the residents, the urban planning office, the client and the planners are working together to develop the design of the new district. The Leverkusen-based real estate developer and owner of the B8 Center retail park, Cube Real Estate, has now issued invitations to the third round of the GemeinschaftsWerk Flingern cooperative planning process. Originally planned as a physical face-to-face event, the event entitled “Design workshop” had to be converted to a digital format within two days due to the pandemic. Despite the weekend, around 60 participants accepted the invitation to the virtual event. For more than five hours, those present discussed and planned three initial ideas from MVRDV, LOLA Landscape Architects and Planersocietät Dortmund.

The planning team presented simple Styrodur cubatures with different densities and structures, ranging from perimeter block development to point blocks. What all approaches have in common is that they allow for different types of residential and commercial use and plenty of open space. The participants once again discussed key aspects of the redesign of the neighborhood from their perspective. These included, for example, the desire for a varied mix of uses, diverse green spaces and a high standard of sustainability.

The design workshop was preceded by two further events. A “Kommunalcafé” on October 8, 2021 served as an opportunity for all stakeholders to get to know each other and exchange ideas. In the “Kids Workshop” on October 30, 2021, children and young people between the ages of 10 and 16 were able to contribute their ideas for the future of the B8 Center and present them themselves in the digital planning workshop. The planning team incorporated the information and impressions from these two events into its analyses. Live – filmed with digital cameras – the participants were able to work on the three urban planning models with the planning team. All three models were built and dismantled, extended and rebuilt and creative urban development ideas were implemented in Rotterdam – entirely according to the ideas of the 60 participants.

Tilman Gartmeier, founder and CEO of Cube Real Estate, says: “The digital design workshop is a highlight of the participation process. I would particularly like to thank the planning team, which has developed the suggestions from the previous process into three planning variants, as well as the ulrich hartung office, which organized, implemented and moderated this workshop excellently. This has brought us a big step closer to our goal of creating a lively and attractive urban quarter with high architectural standards on the B8-Center site.”

Thore Marenbach, Managing Director of Cube Land Development and project manager for this project at Cube Real Estate, adds: “We are delighted with the lively participation in the design workshop. The designs were discussed with great passion and at a high level. The planning team has a big task ahead of them and we are looking forward to seeing the concepts in concrete terms.”

In the next step, the planning team will work through the three planning drafts presented in accordance with the design workshop. The plans will be discussed again in public at the plenary session at the beginning of 2022. The recommendation committee of planning experts, politicians, administrators, developers and citizens will then be asked to recommend an urban planning design for the redevelopment of the site to the responsible municipal bodies. This recommendation is followed by the actual development plan process, which is intended to create the building rights for the future of the B8 site.

All information on the project and the planning process can be found at www.gemeinschaftswerk-flingern.de