RAG Montan Immobilien

The RAG site on Hafenstraße in Saarbrücken/Germany, where the group’s administration building was located from 1978, was officially sold off to Altin Immobiliengruppe on 17th August 2017 (Figure 1). The demolition of the former administration building was a prerequisite, to allow the construction of a new four-star hotel on the same plot.

“A new hotel can soon start being built at this prominent site in the heart of Saarbrücken, which is a historic location for us,” announced Prof. Hans-Peter Noll, Chairman of the Executive Board of RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, Essen/Germany, at the official handover of the plot. The property subsidiary of RAG Aktiengesellschaft, RAG Montan Immobilien has been entrusted with site and project development work for almost 40 years now. Its remit is to ensure that former mining areas are re-used on a sustainable basis at various locations in the Ruhr and Saar regions. “We take our responsibility very seriously and are doing our bit to help structural change in the Saarland. That always succeeds most effectively in places where we can work together with the federal state, municipality and private investors,” affirmed Prof. Noll.

The building, which was erected in the 1970s, was the workplace of roughly 800 employees when used as the Saarbergwerke administration building. At that time, it was an extremely modern office block with open-plan offices. “But that was exactly what caused us problems when approaching the market,” explained Christoph Happe, Head of Property Sales at RAG Montan Immobilien. The building may have been modern in the 1970s and 1980s, but no investors came forward who were prepared to revitalise the building. Only the plot itself was of interest. “Of course, financial interests are at the forefront when we’re selling property. Nevertheless, right from the start we held constructive talks with the state government, represented by Jürgen Barke, State Secretary for Financial Affairs, and the City of Saarbrücken on potential re-use of the plot in the general context of the planned trade fair centre,” explained Happe. In the end, Altin Immobiliengruppe was convinced in all respects.

“We are proud that the Steigenberger group is coming to Saarbrücken and is working together with us to open the new InterCityHotel. As a native of the Saarland, this site has my firm backing,” affirmed Mehmet Altin, Chief Executive of the property group. The new building will contain 170 hotel rooms in a prominent location, in addition to a new multi-storey car park. The architectural firm Wandel Lorch is responsible for the building’s façade, while Matteo Thun & Partners are taking care of the interior design. The InterCityHotel is set to open in 2019.

Secretary of State for Financial Affairs Jürgen Barke, who has backed the construction of the new hotel right from the start, said: “I am delighted that we are going to have a new hotel at this site, with its excellent transport links and close proximity to the Congresshalle concert hall, Europa-Galerie shopping mall and Bahnhofstraße. This will ensure the old plot of land will be used sustainably.” He considers the demolition of the former administration building and the renovation of the site to be a prime example of structural change in the Saarland. “The new hotel will be an important building block in the further development of Saarbrücken as a congress and trade
fair location, and will strengthen tourism in the city,” said Mr Barke. He believes the endeavours of RAG and Altin Immobiliengruppe are a win for the state capital and the entire Saarland region. For the State Secretary for Financial Affairs, Jürgen Barke, it is a positive sign that private investors in particular believe in the location. (RAG Montan Immobilien/Si.)

Markus Masuth was appointed Chairperson of the Executive Board at RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, a subsidiary of RAG Aktiengesellschaft based in Essen/Germany, on 1st October 2017. He succeeds Prof. Hans-Peter Noll, who has assumed the same position at the Zollverein foundation. Following a career in several RAG mines, from 2008 onwards Masuth had been the Head of the Prosper coke plant in Bottrop/Germany, which was taken over by Arcelor Mittal in 2011. Since then, he has acted as Chairperson of the Board at Arcelor Mittal Bottrop GmbH.

Hans-Reiner Biehl, long-standing Chairperson of the Board at Saarbergwerke AG, based in Saarbrücken/Germany, passed away on 23rd June 2017 at the age of 80. Biehl, who was born in Saarbrücken, was the first Saarlander to head Saarbergwerke AG. Saarbergwerke was merged into Deutsche Steinkohle AG, now RAG, in the late 1990s.

Thanks to the grant notification awarded by Dr. Günther Horzetzky, State Secretary in the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Industry, Small Businesses and Trade, to the two towns of Bottrop and Essen and also to RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, the path has been cleared for the development of a feasibility study for the „Interkommunaler Entwicklungsplan IKEP_Mitte“ project (inter-municipal development plan).

In association with RAG Montan Immobilien, the towns of Essen and Bottrop want to develop about 200 ha of post-mining land. To this end, the „Interkommunaler Ent­wicklungsplan IKEP_Mitte“ collaboration was agreed at the Immobilienmesse Expo Real in Munich in October last year. It is a flagship inter-municipal project under the „Wandel als Chance“ (Change as Opportunity) post-mining land agreement Thanks to the regional economic development programme of North Rhine-Westphalia, 75 % of this project is now funded by the Bund-Länder-Gemeinschaftsaufgabe „Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur“ (GRW) (joint task of the federal government and the states for the „Improvement of the regional economic structure“).

In the north of Essen and the south of Bottrop there are numerous commercial and industrial buildings which are in various phases of usage. In this area, RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH has access to a total of 152 ha of potential space, including Emil Emscher in Essen, Welheimer Mark and the Prosper II mine in Bottrop. In the past few decades, restrictions or a lack of adequate transport links have made it impossible for some of the space to be made available. In the short term, the towns of Bottrop and Essen would like to work with RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH to develop a site for innovative technology-oriented companies and production facilities which is integrated in a green landscape.

The partners are currently collaborating on a feasibility study for revitalising post-mining land in a profitable way that focuses on the needs of the market. All technical and planning-related questions, plus the issue of time availability, have now been summarised in a plan, which is of huge importance in steering the overall process. The initial concepts ought to be developed by the end of 2016 and the feasibility study should be available by 2018.

The three partners assume joint responsibility for the region and want to work together to promote a successful and sustainable change on the land in the region once the mining industry has come to an end – specifically when coal mining ends in 2018. (RAG Montan Immobilien/Si.)

RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, in Essen (Germany), has recognised that, thanks to the participation of the people in the planning and development process in many locations, there is not only a higher level of acceptance in the project development stage, but that structural changes can also be implemented more quickly and economically. The coexistence of urban space, landscape, sculptures and process-oriented, participative art that addresses the needs of the area and of the people is the key to any change. Art can therefore not only help to design the space, but it can also become a part of urban and landscape planning.

The development of the Kreativ.Quartier Lohberg (“Creative Quarter in Lohberg”) on the site of the former Lohberg mine in Dins-laken is a good example of such a change: Although job losses initially led to a loss of identity, the participation of the people in the development and planning, art, and culture of the former mine site brought about an optimistic mood, which, in turn, has resulted in them contributing to the design of the entire urban district. In the Loh-berg district, the local people are designing their new home themselves – starting with the Kreativ.Quartier. This was the conclusion that was made at a round of talks held in September 2015 at the Expo Real real estate trade fair in Munich and attended by Michael Groschek, Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Transportation for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lukas Crepaz, Managing Director at Kultur Ruhr GmbH, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Noll, Chairman of the Board of Directors at RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH.

Local residents were already using art and culture to shape their own environment, and forming a local identity for Lohberg, well before January 2010 when, as part of Ruhr.2010, the region was named European Capital of Culture with the theme “Culture through change, change through culture”, in which the town of Dinslaken played its role as the “local hero”. Art and culture is a self-designed driving force for the change in Lohberg, and many artists and creative types have participated in this. Just a short time after the mine was closed, they obtained the spaces and existing listed buildings and breathed new life into them.

This was reason enough for the English twin cities of the Ruhr area cities to show their approval of the creative change in Loh-berg at the end of September 2015 under the title “Creative exChange – A Five Twins Initiative for North East England and the Ruhr Region”. (RAG Montan Immobilien/Si.)

At the end of September 2015, the Göttelborn spoil tip was handed over to Industriekultur Saar GmbH (IKS) by RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, in Sulzbach. This meant that the tip became part of the landscape at Industriekultur Nord (LIK.NORD) and was made accessible to the public.

RAG Aktiengesellschaft invested a total of 6 million € in the redevelopment of the Göttelborn spoil tip and the Kohlbachweiher. Moving almost 0,5 million m³ of earth made this measure the largest-ever undertaking at a spoil tip and a settling pond in the Saarland.

The post-mine landscape that is probably most well-known in the Saarland is the Saarkohlenwald. It extends across 6000 ha and, with a 45 km circular trail around the heap, is an attractive recreation area in which the natural landscape and industrial heritage are closely connected to one another. The LIK.NORD major conservation project ties in with the principle of “leaving space for nature”. Mining waste tips, sludge ponds, coal deposits and reservoirs form a mosaic with the semi-natural forests. These forests and sludge ponds are more or less left untended and provide opportunities for dragonflies and amphibians to thrive.

The IKS took on the area of the former Göttelborn mine back in 2003. In addition to science and teaching, an industrial park has since been established at this location, and new companies with trend-setting technologies and new products have set up business here, without the area losing the characteristics of the coal and steel industry. (RAG Montan Immobilien/Si.)