Creativity, experience and environmental awareness make a good team when it comes to bringing former port or industrial sites back to life.
Filthy properties,..... we just love them!
Since its foundation in 2000, imetas has become a specialist for contaminated conversion sites.
Profound know how about all phases of the complex processes of such developments, from acquisition, legal evaluations incl. post liability, financial feasibility, management of authorities, public law contracts up to the implementation of technical processes for cleaning or disposal of contaminated soils are part of our expertise.
Through our extensive experience, we are capable to repair the soil in an environmentally friendly manner, creating potentially new habitats for humans, animals, plants and groundwater.
In cooperation with Geobality Canada Inc. (www.geobality.ca) we are able to solve even difficult contaminations with biological methods.
Successfully remediating contaminated land means, above all, involving the people with their knowledge, experience, concerns and ideas for new ways.
In British Columbia we will successfully continue what we have started in Europe.
- Acquisition of suitable contaminated land in unique locations
- Finding the genius loci of the location
- Working out the appropriate framework conditions in cooperation with all relevant authorities, neighbors and affected First Nations
- Developing the urban planning concept and architecture
- Active implementation of sustainable development goals (SDG)
- Bio-Remediation of contaminated sites
- Realization of the projects in partnerships with other companies
Examples of imetas Brownfield Developments:
Project: Weserterrassen
History: Former Tank depot with buried and standing tanks and ship equipment.
Size: ~ 3,500 sqm
Zoning: Special use port area.
Neighbourhood: Waterways and Shipping Authority, Coastguard, Pilots with 24/7 standby service. CO2 emissions and vibrations from arriving and departing vessels.
Contaminates: Soil: Hydro carbons, heavy metals, Phenole, burried gas tanks;
Buildings: Asbestos, PHA, Bitume, Diesel, Oil, polluted steel-, wood-, stone-, roofing felt materials.
Specialties: - Rotten Piers with multiple wood pile construction.
- Port work is the city's main economic mainstay, making it extremely sensitive to nearby developments.
- Historic Place from the founding periode of town.
Rezoning: Time-consuming procedures with politicians, neighbors and administration at government and community level. Many expert opinions to document compatibility. Result: mixed use residential and commercial in 2 construction phases. Building permit with many conditions for flood and noise protection.
Contaminates: Soil: Dig and dump. Complete 2.5m depth soil exchange.
Building: Demolition and disposal.
Strictly controlled and documented procedures.
Construction: 125 bored pile foundations with 25m length. Due to the old piles in the ground partly set by tests. Restoration of the old quay foundation. Flood protection for garage floor of shipbuilding with rescue walkways to the dike; All construction materials are seawater resistant; "Weserterrassen" Construction phase 1 lasted 2 years; "Pier-Quartier" phase 2 was not implemented due to dike renewals.
Partner: imetas, Hansagrund
Project duration: 10 years
Project: Fördeterrassen
History: Part of former Marine-Airforce base.
Size: ~ 60,000 sqm
Zoning: Special use military area.
Neighbourhood: Port area with transshipment quays, Customs port and entrance to Kiel-Channel one of the most used waterways on earth.
Contaminates: Soil: Hydro carbons,
Buildings: Polluted materials with Bitume, PAH and Phenole.
Specialties: imetas acquired the site from the government of Germany. Soil artificially filled in the fjord. The area was always used as a military base. The neighborhood is interfering with the operational readiness. Noise and exhaust emissions from ships pollute the area.
Rezoning: An urban architectural contest initiated by us laid the foundations for a future mixed-use development. The area of 60,000 sqm was divided into 4 different building areas with different building typologies. Approx. 10,000 sqm have been set aside as biotope forest and approx. 8,000 sqm for roads and paths.
- The largest construction field B with approx. 15,000 sqm was developed and build on by imetas. The remaining construction fields were sold to investors with building rights for 126 units and development.
- In two construction phases on B 9 buildings with a total of 93 apartments and 117 underground parking spaces were built.
- The heat supply is provided by geothermal heat pumps and solar thermal or photovoltaics by imetaplan as contractor.
- Noise protection windows and sea-weather resistant materials are used throughout the quarter.
Contaminates: Soil: Dig and dump. Soil excavation for underground garages.
. Buildings: Demolition, separation of the loaded material and crushing of the clean material as fill material for paths.
Construction: ~570 pile foundations with 15 m length. Of these, approximately 130 are combined energy piles for the geothermal probes.
Partner: imetas
Project duration: 7 years
Project: Oval und Kontor am Kaiserkai
History: Former warehouses and ship equipment dealer.
Size: ~ 2,500 sqm
Zoning: Special use port area.
Neighbourhood: Port area with transshipment quays and Customs port.
Contaminates: Soil: Hydro carbons,
Specialties: - Rotten wood pile construction of former docks. - Hafencity Hamburg is Europe's largest cohesive development project within a single city. Politically desired, the development of the entire area was prepared by the city. Infrastructure and flood protection was produced by the city. The lands old buildings were cleared and sold by the city.
Rezoning: The city has created the general building law for residential and work spaces. In a further process, we were able to negotiate deviations from the urban plan- ing specifications in relation to our planning.This resulted in the 11-story "Oval am Kaiserkai", the only high-rise in the area.
With 6 stories, the "Kontor am Kaiserkai" complies with the city's specifications. Building permit with many conditions for flood and noise protection.
Contaminates: Soil: Dig and dump. Complete 2.5m depth soil exchange.
Construction: 85 bored pile foundations with 22m length. Due to the old piles in the ground partly set by tests. Restoration of the old quay foundation. Flood protection for the 2 underground garage floors.
Partner: imetas, Primus, Ingenhoven, Kai 18
Project duration: 4 years
Gas plant and bus workshop, Lübeck, Germany
Project: Neues Wallufer
History: Former Gas plant and workshop for buses of city-muncipality.
Size: ~ 28,000 sqm with ~15,000 sqm old office buildings and workshops
Zoning: Special use muncipality use.
Neighbourhood: closed to the historic UNESCO World-Heritage city center of Lübeck.
Direct neigbourhood with mixture used residential + commercial + public park alongside the river shoreline
Contaminates: Soil and groundwater: Hydro carbons, heavy metals
Buildings: Polluted materials with Asbestos, Bitume, PAH and Phenole.
Specialties: Acquisition after Europe-wide bidding. Due to the heavy contamination, only a few participants were willing to bear these risks.
Rezoning: Elaborate remediation concept in which the seller, the city and the project company assumed obligations. This 3-party agreement is a prime example of a good PPP model for making sense of urban development even in complex situations.
An urban architectural contest initiated by us laid the foundations for a future mixed-use development. The area of ~28,000 sqm was divided into 2 different new building areas with different building typologies and about 100 units between the existing old office buildings.
- A campus concept with commerce, education and apartments was created.
- The old office buildings were partially refurbished, newly leased and then sold.
- In the first construction phase, imetas & Partner produced 4 buildings with 48 condominiums.
- The second construction phase was sold with building permission.
Contaminates: Soil: Phase 1: Dig and dump. Soil excavation for underground garages.
Phase 2: Cover with sheeting and separating layers, degassing shafts and tree troughs, and backfill with clean soil.
Groundwater: Sealing wall to divert groundwater to drain contaminated area as an obligation of the seller.
Buildings: Disposal of the contaminated material during the remediation work.
Construction: Phase 1: ~140 pile foundations with 15 m length. Flood protection for the underground garage.
Partner: imetas, Primus
Project duration: 7 years
Water Work, Lübeck, Germany
Project: Wasserkunst
History: Former muncipality water work plant
Size: ~ 38,000 sqm with an old heritage workshop
Zoning: Special use muncipality and protected landscape area
Neighbourhood: The property is located on the banks of the river Wakenitz in a popular villa dis- trict in Lübeck. A heritage Water Tower from 1871 stands directly beside the site.
Direct neigbourhood with mixture used residential + commercial + public park alongside the river shoreline
Contaminates: Soil and groundwater: Old waterworks cleaned the water in large multi-stage filter basins before discharging it into the public supply. The filtered-out pol- lutants, including hydrocarbons, phosphates and heavy metals, settled in the soil.
Specialties: Acquisition after Europe-wide bidding. Due to the complicated procurement of building rights from the protected landscape area and the contamination, only a few participants were willing to bear the risks. Resistance to the project was evident from the outset on the part of environmental associations and politicians.
Rezoning: Since large parts of the site were designated as a landscape conservation area with a riverbank biotope, reliable time schedules for realization could not be established. imetas acquired the site in partnership with Primus.
An urban planning competition initiated by our partners and us laid the foundation for a future mixed-use development. The site of ~38,000 sqm was divided into several new development areas with different 28 buildings and approx. 240 resdential units.
- A quarters concept with apartments, townhouses and individual houses was created. The integration into the villa-like surroundings, the historic water tower and under preservation of large areas of the previous landscape conservation area with public hiking trails were several challenges.
- The old filter hall of the waterworks was to be integrated and converted into a water art museum.
- The previous landscape conservation area was partially de-designated. The direct shore area continues to be biotope.
Contaminations: Soil: excavation and landfill. Excavated soil for underground parking.
Buildings: Disposal of contaminated material during remediation work.
Construction: Topographic offsets of more than 9m in places with varying soil qualities.
Project duration: 5 years for imetas. The entire process to achieve building rights took almost 7 years. imetas sold its shares to a developer company.
Partner: imetas, Primus, B&L group
Website: www.die-wasserkunst.de
Fish-Harbour Hamburg, Germany
Project: Dock Island
History: Former Fish-Harbour, out of duty for 30 years.
Size: ~ 30,000 sqm
Zoning: Special use sea-harbour, attached to an international water way.
Neighbourhood: The property is located directly on the banks of the Elbe River in a popular Hamburg neighborhood. The world-famous Hamburg fish market is an integral part of the party scene and tourism activities. Direct neighborhood with offices + commercial uses + a cruise center + restaurants and pubs along the river bank.
Contaminates: Port sludge polluted for decades with industrial contamination and sediment settling. Heavy metals, hydrocarbons such as PAHs.
Specialties: The proposed project will require dredging of the harbor basin. Remediation of the sludge to reduce final disposal costs is an important economic factor in this project.
Due to the Covid-19 measures, the event project has been put on hold for now until planning certainty returns.
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