A clever addition to the Technology Park
The new industrial park at Segelfliegerdamm
For a long time, the premises of the former nationally owned company Medizinische Geräte Berlin on Segelfliegerdamm had been a sorry sight. It now serves as an impressive example of how a partially contaminated strip of industrial waste land can be turned into a modern industrial park perfectly embedded in the science location.
Adlershof is the City of Science, Economy and Media. “City being the operative word,“ says Adlershof Projekt GmbH’s Sales Manager Ute Hübener. A Hightech nucleus to the southeast of Berlin, Adlershof is in fact already urban thanks to its shopping facilities, daycare centres and yet another residential quarter. Soon, however, there will be even more space for smaller businesses, craft enterprises and service providers planning to locate on a newly developed commercial area on Segelfliegerdamm. “After all, small businesses form part of a vibrant city,“ Hübener adds.
High demand
Demand for the plots ranging in size between 600 and 5,000 square metres is high already, even if on some of the spaces, construction work is scheduled to begin no sooner than late 2014. Applicants include companies specialised in sheet metal shaping, dry installation, parquet flooring, as well as a joiner’s workshop and engineering offices. In fact, these businesses are already closely connected to other operating enterprises on site and may therefore count on good synergy effects.
While all this may sound logical it is anything but obvious, especially since it was a once proud nationally owned company for medical toolbuilding that had resided on this 40,000 square metres area. Having missed a good start into market economy, the company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1997, allowing small businesses to locate there instead. However, no further investments were made. Industrial barracks began to crumble while the ground water beneath was contaminated: not a good place for thriving companies and, what’s more, a serious threat to drinking water supply.
A great deal of work
In 2010, Adlershof Projekt GmbH finally took over the premises on behalf of the State of Berlin. As the area was anything but ready for modern industrial location, it meant one thing above all: a great deal of work. Project Manager Uwe Klotz remembers the “adventurous“ utilities development, ailing water supply systems, dilapidated solid constructions and residents fearing for their low rents. Nevertheless, the area had to be extensively cleared, if only to be able to decontaminate both soil and ground water. “Which really everybody profits from,“ Klotz points out. Besides the supply of clean water, however, the area on Segelfliegerdamm will be generally enhanced becoming, Klotz adds, “a clever addition to the technology park.“ It was mainly facilitated by subsidies from the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment and the Senate Department for Economy, Technology and Research. Beyond doubt, Adlershof will greatly benefit from this input.
By Chris Löwer for Adlershof Special