The objective:

The City of Cologne’s general residential planning prognosed that 24,000 new single- and two-family homes will be needed between 2000 and 2014. There is an additional task of realising modern living situations such as family life, living and working, multi-generation homes and senior living.

West Cologne has always been an attractive place to live for the people of Cologne. The district of Widdersdorf, which has strong country features, is in this area. The district was annexed in 1973 and is planned to grow from 6,500 residents to 10,000 residents. This growth is the basic precondition for creating desperately needed infrastructure. The company Amand has acquired all lots in the area, which were previously used for agricultural purposes. Planning for the 132ha was done in planning workshops. The local population was integrated into this process in order to coordinate a building land offer with quality assurance and growing value. The product is called: “developed property“.

How it all began:

• Integration of local citizens and interest groups into the development process: planning workshops and joint development of the planning concept
• Analysis of market conditions in collaboration with the City of Cologne, diverse institutes and summary in an analysis of residential needs
• Introduction of umbrella marketing with the brand Prima Colonia®, living well, the Kölsch way®, a place where the Kölsch way of life is at home.
• Development of a concept for the quarters according to lifestyles and design preferences
• Definition of the quarter themes in the tradition of Cologne’s Veedels and neighbourhoods
• Definition of the qualities of the quarter themes in the design handbooks and the text definitions of building planning
• Early implementation of the home developers and builders into workshops with the goal of achieving coordinated variety in the property listings
• Formation of interdisciplinary teams consisting of internal and external experts in the fields of planning and development as well as marketing and sales
• Realisation of a spectrum reaching from free-standing houses to duplexes and row houses, to chain houses and multi-family homes
• Niche offers fulfilling special user requirements
• Early realisation of infrastructure decisive. A modern urban residential quarter has to have facilities available for: shopping, education, sport, leisure, health.

Current results:

• First construction phase begun in December 2006 with building permit
• Development of all phase I plots within 9 months in 2007
• Today, 85% of phase I plots have been sold to individual owners and builders
• A further 10% of the plots are covered by option and reservation agreements
• Project realisation is in cooperation with 20 builders/architects, each quarter has ca. 4 – 5 providers
• current, phase I construction volume has reached ca. 135 million euros
• There are currently 350 flats/houses that have been completed or that are being built

Infrastructure realisation status:

• Complete development of building phase I has been realised
• Completion of the main access road – the boulevard Unter Linden – with a width of ca. 31m. This includes the planting of 170 Linden trees.
• Construction of the municipal primary school (Olympia School), launch 09/2007
• Construction of a municipal pre-school with 5 groups, launch 09/2008 (two further pre-schools are planned for 2009 and 2012)
• Construction of a sports complex with two artificial turf fields for the local sports club
• Co-initiation of an international school, completion of the first building 08/2008,
• Currently 300 students and a further 60 children in private nursery school
• Construction of a noise protection park along BAB A1 with a length of 1.9 km and a height of 18m
• Addition of a Plus market on the east side of the quarter, opening 10/2007
• Addition of an EDEKA shopping centre with a sales area of 2,300 m2 and sales space for the chemist shop DM and an ALDI, opening 03/2009
• Addition of a health centre with attached senior home and a residence for assisted living, construction beginning 03/2009