LINZ. As is well known, big plans are being rolled out for the area of the former Hiller barracks and the adjacent summer grounds in Ebelsberg. A new district is to be created there that combines living, working and Co., around 3000 apartments are planned. The entire planning area is being developed by the WSF private foundation and the housing cooperatives WAG, Giwog and Neue Heimat.
The former bought the former barracks area in 2016 for 41 million euros, and there will soon be visible changes in terms of redesign. In a first step, it is planned to extensively refurbish the eleven listed buildings before the new buildings – including a 22-storey timber high-rise – are ready to be built. A total of around 1,800 apartments will be located on the site.
“The fabric of the building deteriorates every year if the buildings remain empty,” WSF CEO Georg-Adam Starhemberg explains the schedule. The partial rededication applications and the development plan are currently being examined, and those responsible for the project expect construction to start in the course of the coming year. The aim is to offer affordable housing in addition to jobs.
Sustainable green space concept
Of the eleven buildings mentioned, nine will be converted into residential buildings, one will house offices in the future, another a kindergarten. The plan is to build rental apartments with two to four rooms, the room height is 3.2 meters. Great importance is also attached to a sustainable green space concept, says Christian Mitterhauser from the WSF private foundation. Key word: sponge city principle.
Like Mitterhauser, Petra Weiss from the Federal Monuments Office emphasizes the good cooperation: “Our common goal is to preserve the monument values of this complex and to continue writing its history.” For Mayor Klaus Luger and planning councilor Dietmar Prammer (both SP), “the sensitive modernization of listed objects” is a role model.
Important building block for traffic concept
The developments on the old barracks area and the summer grounds are also a central building block for the announced traffic concept for the south of Linz. “The mobility solutions must go hand in hand with the housing construction, it must no longer happen that they lag behind. The traffic problem in the south of Linz is already considerable,” says the responsible Deputy Mayor Martin Hajart (VP). This sees the housing developers required to participate in the financing of soft forms of mobility.
Public information events on the transport concept are planned for September 19 and 20 (Volkshaus Ebelsberg and Volkshaus Pichling, respectively, from 7 p.m.). Problem areas and potential solutions will be discussed there. The planning office Rosinak & Partner is already conducting talks with selected stakeholders. (
Source: Nachrichten
