Competition for leasehold land decided

The winners of the joint model project for the concept award by the Office for Urban Renewal and Housing Promotion (ASW) of the City of Leipzig and the Leipziger Wohnungs- und Baugesellschaft mbH (LWB) have been determined: The competition for the heritable building rights has been won by the building associations "Klinge 10" and "(A)Enders Wohnen". Both groups focus on diverse and variable housing offers for very different needs and life situations and submitted economically plausible plans.

"With our joint model project, we have given building groups the opportunity to create affordable and communally used living space for themselves," emphasises Dorothee Dubrau, Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Urban Development and Construction in Leipzig. The city-owned LWB has made available the plots of land at Klingenstrasse 10 and Endersstrasse 33 for this purpose. These are to be leased for 99 years. Leasehold offers an alternative for prospective builders whose budget does not permit an expensive purchase of land.

"With this joint model project to strengthen cost-saving and cooperative housing, we are supporting the implementation of the housing policy concept of the City of Leipzig," says Ute Schäfer, Director of Finance and Asset Management at LWB. "We wish the assemblies every success and good cooperation in implementing their ideas.

In March 2017, the City of Leipzig published the so-called "advance notice of the tender" for the plots of land in the Official Gazette, also at www.leipzig.de/stadterneuerung. Information about the project was posted on the LWB website at modellprojekte.lwb.de and all necessary documents were made available. The pre-announcement phase, during which interested parties were to meet and prepare the joint projects, ran until the end of July 2017.

This was followed by a three-month tendering phase from mid-September to mid-December last year. A total of six applications were received for the ground lease plots, one of which is 490 square metres and the other 1,008 square metres. In these six building consortia, almost 40 households with a total of 115 persons aged between 1 and 80 years had joined together for the applications. The procedure was accompanied by the coordination office of the Leipziger Freiheit network. In the network, which is supported by the City of Leipzig, building communities are advised on the various models of cooperative and affordable building and living.

All legal forms that give members the possibility of joint direct self-administration were invited to apply. For the awarding of the contract, a catalogue of criteria was drawn up within the framework of an extensive participation process with experts, politicians and the public, which is based on the guidelines of the housing policy concept and various models of cooperative, affordable housing. Following a preliminary evaluation by an external expert, the jury not only assessed the performance and creditworthiness of the building group, but also the submitted concepts in terms of construction, economic and social aspects.

After reviewing the submitted concepts and selection interviews with representatives of the building associations and with architects, the decision was made in favour of "Klinge 10" and "(A)Enders Wohnen". Both concepts, according to building mayor Dubrau, convinced by the "high quality and balance of the cooperative approach, the structural concept and the economic plausibility".

Keyword LWB: The LWB is a municipal enterprise which, with around 35,100 residential units in Leipzig, has a market share of just over one tenth. The sole shareholder of the LWB is the city of Leipzig.

Samira Sachse

Dr. Beate Ginzel
Beate.ginzel@leipzig.de
Stadt Leipzig
Amt für Stadterneuerung und Wohnungsbauförderung
Prager Straße 118-136 04317 Leipzig