Bringing sleeping giants to life

EU project for sustainable urban development tackles the revitalisation of the former spinning mill in Altchemnitz

As part of the URBACT III network "2nd Chance: Waking up the sleeping giants!" for the revitalisation of large inner-city brownfield sites and vacant buildings, Chemnitz will receive a visit from Dipl.-Ing. Nils Scheffler, an expert in integrated urban development, on 15 December 2015. Together with members of the local project group, which includes a representative of CWE, the managing directors of Spinnwerk GmbH & Co KG, city employees and the user Spinnerei Chemnitz, the leading expert will visit the former spinning mill on Altchemnitzer Straße and gain a more detailed picture of the condition and special features of the site. The project group will then discuss the possibilities for revitalising the spinning mill and the associated activation of the Altchemnitz business location as well as the next steps in the project.

Chemnitz would like to contribute to the transnational network by further developing the former spinning machinery building, which is partially under heritage protection, and opening up the Altchemnitz district towards the city centre. The site area of the former factory complex is around 47,000 m2 and its various buildings are currently around 40% let. By participating in the project, the aim is to find ways to bring more life back into the area, drive forward the redevelopment of the complex and increase the density of urban and community-led uses.

The project is being led by the initiator and lead partner Naples. Liverpool, Maribor and Lublin are also involved in the project as permanent partners and Brussels, Gijon, Dubrovnik, Porto, Caen, Genoa and Chemnitz as applicants. The URBACT network is intended to help familiarise people with and implement new approaches, ways and methods. The partner cities exchange ideas and learn from each other with the aim of creating an integrated local action plan for the respective project, which then helps the project partners to implement the revitalisation. The involvement of local stakeholders and their interests are particularly important here.

URBACT is a European programme for sustainable and integrated urban development that promotes the Europe-wide exchange of knowledge and experience between cities. Cities come together in networks to collaborate on specific issues and work together on projects. For the current EU funding period 2014 - 2020, a total of EUR 74 million ERDF funding is available for the third phase of the programme, Urbact III, with a co-financing rate of 85% ERDF funding for less developed regions and 70% for more developed regions.

For further information please contact:
Pia Sachs, EU Office of the City of Chemnitz
Tel: 0371/488-1509
E-mail: pia.sachs@stadt-chemnitz.de