In the concept process, the best idea wins, not the highest price.
Concept process - competition of ideas
Occasion
Rising land prices and rents are making it increasingly difficult for more and more people in the state capital of Wiesbaden to find land and living space. At the same time, the goals of climate protection, ecology, sustainable mobility and high-quality urban development are to be implemented.
The state capital of Wiesbaden would therefore like to make selected plots of land owned by the city available for high-quality urban development concepts and communal housing projects. The basis for the allocation in the concept procedure is defined quality criteria and not the highest purchase offer. The concept procedures are intended for commercial area developers or building contractors and housing associations as well as residential groups, building cooperatives and building cooperatives.
The state capital of Wiesbaden therefore gave the green light for the implementation of concept procedures in 2019 through a political resolution.
Quality criteria
Quality and selection criteria for awarding concepts at the state capital of Wiesbaden
Nature and the environment
The focus here is on current and forward-looking energy standards (BEG efficiency house and higher) as well as sustainable building materials that are produced as climate-neutrally as possible and can be recycled.
Urban development
The focus is on a high level of innovation (including urban development, mobility, energy, ecology, architecture) with medium space consumption. Forward-looking mobility offers are expected. The aim is to create integrated offers that have an impact beyond the boundaries of the individual property and into the neighborhood. The same applies to concepts that contribute to the revitalization of the community.
Architecture
The buildings are expected to have a high-quality design, which should be a model and impulse for the value of the entire neighborhood. In addition, the specifications of the development plan and the design manual, where available, are to be implemented in an innovative and high-quality manner.
Housing policy
A diverse range of subsidized and privately financed rental and owner-occupied apartments, innovative forms of housing and integration projects is desired. Affordable rental housing: fixed rents (entry-level rents for different income groups), rent caps, longer commitment periods for publicly subsidized apartments, ban on conversion into condominiums.
Mix of uses
The focus here is on the mix of uses and the corresponding innovative spatial program (in particular first floor use and the creation of communal spaces, sharing offers, opening up to the district and neighborhood).
Goals
Rising land and rental prices require further innovative instruments in addition to publicly subsidized housing construction. The aim of the concept procedure is the allocation and active management of land owned by the state capital of Wiesbaden - or by municipal companies - in order to achieve affordable, high-quality construction and housing as well as a lively diversity in new and existing urban districts.
On the one hand, the state capital of Wiesbaden wants to make an active contribution to the design of urban, architecturally, socially, ecologically and energetically innovative residential areas for all population groups and, in particular, take account of the population's growing desire for communal living.
On the other hand, in a tight real estate market situation in which more and more citizens are finding it difficult to access the construction and housing market, the project opens up the possibility of realizing sustainable and affordable housing and living concepts and creating a new form of property ownership for private developers in middle-income groups.
The selected and offered plots are to be designed in a user- and demand-oriented manner in order to expand the spectrum of urban housing forms. The state capital of Wiesbaden is thus following the positive examples of other municipalities in which such housing projects have strengthened the social and communal conditions in the neighborhoods and the residential environment, thereby contributing to social cohesion and identification with the new neighborhoods.
Resolutions
On October 31, 2019, the city councillors of the state capital of Wiesbaden decided to allocate selected municipal plots in the concept procedure in future:
to innovative residential groups, joint building ventures and building cooperatives, housing associations and other property developers and project developers
according to quality criteria
at a fixed price, as part of a best-bid procedure - following a market value assessment by the expert committee for the state capital of Wiesbaden - or by way of heritable building rights
