PlusEnergieQuartier Oberursel

Settlement summary

Neighbourhood

Project status	Concept
Location of local community	61440 Oberursel, Hochtaunuskreis, Hessen
Settlement in figures	45.4 km²; approx. 45,000 residents
Developer, organizer	HOCHTIEF formart Rhein-Main
Settlement	New-build, multi-storey residential and office buildings
Utilisation type	Mixed area
Site size	3 ha
Gross floor area, after (according to DIN 277)	33.000 m²
Living area, after	19.000 m²
Commercial area, afterG	14.000 m²
SOI (Site Occupancy Index)	0.28
FSI (Floor Space Index)	1.06
Age structure	3 new-build office buildings, 18 new-build residential buildings
State of construction and refurbishment	Site belongs to HOCHTIEF AG, currently not built on
Heating system	Being processed: The following technology combinations are currently being investigated: CHP + heating network, biomass boiler, wood gasification boiler with CHP, photovoltaics
Ownership structure	The site for the future mixed-use district is currently owned by HOCHTIEF AG. Once the residential buildings have been constructed it is planned to sell them to owners for individual operation. The office building shall be rented and sold to investors.
Project themes	New buildings, Residental buildings, Commercial and mixed zones, Integrated energy concepts for buildings, Optimising building envelopes, Optimising building technology, Cogeneration, Renewable energey sources, Centralised + decentralised energy supply, Street lightning, New urban land use planning, Local heating and cooling networks, Heat and cold storage, Energy management systems, Project and process management

Project description

Aims, Project context

With the “PlusEnergieQuartier Oberursel” project it is intended to develop and implement a new standard for generating and supplying climate-neutral energy in the district. In an integrated research and planning process, a sustainable and largely renewable energy-based concept shall be developed for an approximately 3-hectare mixed-use site that incorporates potential synergies with the neighbouring commercial areas. A further focus is on informing users and involving them in the pioneering district concept as well as on monitoring the project to control and optimise it. First of all the energy supply concept is being developed as part of interdisciplinary collaboration in a joint project. Based on this, the planning phase and construction measures can then begin.

The energy turnaround has focused public attention on issues such as renewable energy provision, the use of innovative technologies, load management and decentralised storage concepts. Built examples and the involvement of real players verify the viability in the local context. The project therefore acts both as a showpiece encouraging emulation and further development and as a multiplier.

In recent years norms and criteria have been developed and stipulated in standards for energy-optimised construction, efficient plant technology and sustainable usage concepts. In 2011 the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development formulated clear requirements for an energy-plus house, the “Efficiency House-Plus”. In addition to reducing the energy requirement through optimising the building envelope, the Efficiency House-Plus requires active technology that produces renewable energy-based surplus primary and end energy that is balanced across the year. Closer investigation clearly shows that the required goals can be implemented considerably more economically on a larger scale and in combination with various buildings and uses than at the level of individual buildings. This leads to sustainable district concepts that extend the balancing framework of individual buildings to district networks and which aim for a joint energy-plus standard. Investigations on integrating energy-related aspects in urban development concepts have recently shown new possibilities and approaches to developing districts. Until now there has been no uniform approach or regulatory framework for assessing joint energy-plus concepts or for defining district standards. Within the framework of the "PlusEnergieQuartier Oberursel" project, the intention is to transfer the requirements for energy-plus houses stipulated from 2020 onwards in the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to the district level and extend them by adding “load management” and “seasonal storage concepts”. On concluding the project it is also intended that the methods and planning concepts can be transferred to dealing with and developing strategies for existing districts.

Planning framework conditions, District concept

Such an energy-plus district is being developed as an exemplary solution and investigated in terms of its processes using the example of a development area in Oberursel. The area’s structure, size, location and accessibility in Oberursel make it ideal for combined residential and commercial use. The town has therefore made a landmark decision in overturning what was originally earmarked in the land-use plan as a commercial and industrial area in favour of developing a mixed-use, energy-plus district and has correspondingly passed a legal resolution approving amendments to the land-use plan. The project-related change to the land-use plan is aimed at developing the area under the framework requirements stipulated by the energy-plus standard. For developing and implementing the energy-plus district, the further development process will right from the beginning consider the interests of all players from politics, research and business, along with the usages.

This innovative development approach firstly requires the formulation of sustainability aspects for amending the land-use plan. Secondly, the energy-related target values and sustainability criteria being promoted in the district concept need to be developed both for planning and constructing the buildings. Based on the definition for energy-plus buildings, it is intended to develop a definition and a balancing tool for energy-plus districts. In this regard the district must offer not only technical qualities but also ecological, economic, socio-cultural and functional qualities. In addition to integrating renewable energy generation, the degree of energy autonomy and the related load management will also be investigated in the joint district project with the intention of also incorporating e-mobility concepts. In order to ensure that the added expenditure for achieving the high energy efficiency standard is exploited to the full, it is intended to carry out not only continual monitoring and checking during the planning and construction phases but also subsequent monitoring in the district for control and optimisation purposes. The implementation will focus on informing users and involving them in the innovative district concept.

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