immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Genossenschaft

  • Farewell party planned for the Raben-Bad in Baden

    Farewell party planned for the Raben-Bad in Baden

    Bagni Popolari heralds the end of the interim use of the Bad zum Raben. On 25 January, the thermal baths on Kurplatz in Baden will celebrate the end of the “Acts of Attention” exhibition, the association announced in a press release. At the same time, a temporary outdoor pool with natural thermal water on the Limmat promenade will invite visitors to take a dip.

    Bagni Popolari has been revitalising the previously closed Raben-Bad since 2017 with exhibitions, performances, music, readings, lectures and animated films, attracting thousands of visitors, according to the press release. However, the thermal baths now need to be thoroughly renovated in order to continue operating. Among other things, it needs solid pool technology, ventilation, new electrical installations and wheelchair-accessible toilets.

    The Raben cooperative, which emerged from Bagni Popolari, is responsible for the renovation. It was founded in 2022 to acquire the bathing floor in the former Badegasthof zum Raben. The Raben cooperative estimates that the necessary renovations will cost around CHF 4.5 million.

    1.5 million of this is to be raised through the sale of new cooperative shares and donations. The Raben-Genossenschaft intends to raise the remaining 3 million Swiss francs through donations from the public sector, foundations and sponsors as well as loans. “If everything goes well, Bagni Popolari will be able to celebrate the first vernissage in the renovated Bad zum Raben in 2027,” hopes the association.

  • Developing alternative forms of housing with building groups: Lessons learnt from the Winkelhalden

    Developing alternative forms of housing with building groups: Lessons learnt from the Winkelhalden

    Alternative living concepts for the 55-plus age group are in demand: the “zusammenhalt” co-operative easily filled 75 flats in Winterthur. Winkelhalden AG in Oberrieden attracted almost a third of its residents from the “hip” city of Zurich. What these housing concepts have in common is that they are based on a committed community. However, it often takes a lot of initiative and luck for the communities to obtain plots of land.

    Developers and investors who have plots of land and want to supplement them with stimulating offers can attract such building groups as partners. The decisive factor here is the question of the right time to connect the building groups and the form of involvement in the development process. An evaluation of the Winkelhalden AG project provides answers to these questions.

    The Winkelhalden AG project comprises 44 flats and a wide range of communal spaces such as a bistro, star bar, fitness centre, sauna and studios. The project was initiated by two private individuals who acquired the land, developed the business model for the public limited company, secured the financing, carried out a study commission, looked for fellow campaigners and realised the project. All of this was only possible because the initiators had a high level of entrepreneurship and a lot of experience with community-orientated business models.

    One of the biggest challenges was generating the equity capital to finance the project. This required enlarging the group early on in the process and finding people willing to invest who were prepared to commit to the initially uncertain development process and the as yet unspecific housing concept. The consequences are visible in the evaluation. A tenant survey one year after moving in shows that the time of entry into the project characterises the relationship to the community: those who joined in the two years when the construction project was developed, the building permit was submitted and the flats were selected were the most successful in integrating into the community. They feel the least pressure to participate in community life. Of those who joined earlier, a third feel more under pressure to participate. They also have the highest proportion of those who have found it difficult to integrate into the community.

    In this context, developers and investors can make a valuable contribution to community concepts: they can relieve building groups of the burden of financing and thus the early integration of less convinced residents by providing temporary equity and pre-financing the project development. In return, they can benefit from a small and committed building group, which ideally develops the alternative living concept from the time the spatial programme is defined and initiates and implements the participation process from the time of the preliminary project, with which future co-inhabitants are connected and integrated into the community. The building group can be a mixture of people who will live in the project in the future or who have relevant experience in developing alternative housing projects.

    Alternative housing concepts do not appeal to the mainstream, but demand is far from being met: the fully let Winkelhalden AG currently manages a pool of interested parties with over 60 applications. Cooperations between professional developers and investors with experienced and proactive building groups help to distribute strengths and competences among the most suitable players.

  • Hochparterre discusses long-term view of Schlieren

    Hochparterre discusses long-term view of Schlieren

    The Zurich publishing house Hochparterre has published its eponymous magazine for the month of August. Among other things, it is about the large-scale project Stadtwerdung im Zeitraffer by photographer Meret Wandeler and publicist Caspar Schärer. They have documented the structural development of the city of Schlieren in photos for 15 years, according to a media release. A book on the project has been published by Scheidegger & Spiess.

    Rahel Marti also interviewed the two about their long-term photographic observation and its usefulness for spatial planning in the publisher’s new podcast Sach & Krach.

    The new issue also deals with virtual dream landscapes that 3D artists and designers develop inspired by painting and nature. The text on these pixel paradises “seriously questions our treatment of nature”.

    The issue also takes up the Architecture Biennale in Venice. It introduces readers to African architecture, which is also championed by the architect and professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich(ETH), Mariam Issoufou Kamara, who has her say in an interview.

    Author Deborah Fehlmann looks at the Weiermatt housing estate in the Aargau municipality of Lupfig and “shows the Hüsli people the advantages of cooperative building”. And urban wanderer and architecture critic Benedikt Loderer calls for the creation of a second old town in Biel in the hospital area.

  • Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 awarded to eco-neighbourhood in Lausanne

    Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 awarded to eco-neighbourhood in Lausanne

    The “Pra Roman” site development by the Codha cooperative and the “Sur le Pra” association won the Binding Prize for Biodiversity 2023 because the development takes on the ecological and social networking functions for the neighbourhood and the city in an extremely exemplary manner and the project was approached in a participatory manner from the very beginning. The 2023 prize was announced as part of the annual theme “groundbreaking site developments”.

    Ecologically networked living spaces
    The “Pra Roman” housing estate with twelve apartment buildings on an area of 22,000 square metres is located on the outskirts of Lausanne. The surrounding area was integrated into the planning and construction of the 2020 development in an exemplary manner. For example, the award-winner created alternating humid wildlife corridors with integrated small structures for amphibians and small mammals and to promote wild plants. This awareness of taking responsibility for ecological connectivity in a larger system is central to the promotion of biodiversity in the settlement area.

    Involving residents in planning
    Raising residents’ awareness of biodiversity promotion was an important part of the “Pra Roman” project from the very beginning. Codha, the developer and cooperative for non-profit housing, initiated the association “Sur le Pra” at the beginning of the planning phase and developed a participatory process. Future residents met early on for site tours or nature observations and, with a high degree of design freedom, designed their near-natural outdoor spaces in workshops, which they later realised independently. The building owner supported them financially.

    Vegetable garden enables encounter and sensitisation
    One of these green spaces is the community vegetable garden. Here people exchange ideas and get to know nature as a basis for life. The culture of sustainable living and land use runs like a thread through the entire “Pra Roman” project. The surrounding ecosystems are observed, imitated in their diversity and connected with the settlement area.

    “We are convinced that this excellent example will encourage other real estate developers to think about biodiversity at an early stage and involve many people,” says Peter Lehmann, vice president of the jury for the award.

    Recognition prize goes to the Areal Bach project in St. Gallen
    In addition to the main prize, the Foundation also awards a recognition prize of 25,000 Swiss francs for smaller sites. The Areal Bach, an interim use near the St.Fiden railway station in St.Gallen, receives this prize because it impressively demonstrates the potential of the many fallow areas in the cities. With its perseverance and commitment, the Areal Bach association overcame resistance, seized the opportunity and, together with the population, ecologically upgraded the areas and revitalised them with creative ideas. It has managed to get many stakeholders on board to realise a jointly supported, multifaceted project. A temporary green oasis was created from a non-place, which can lay the foundations for biodiversity and quality of stay for the planning of a future area development.

  • Start-up scene in Knonauer Amt receives support

    Start-up scene in Knonauer Amt receives support

    The Knonauer Amt location development agency supports prospective company founders from the region. Together with the Coachingplus coworking space in Affoltern and the Startzentrum Zurich cooperative, it developed the idea of offering corresponding workshops. The first one has already taken place, and follow-up events are planned.

    The first workshop met with great interest. A total of 40 participants, two-thirds of them women, dealt with the path from idea to business model under the guidance of speaker Nicolas Goetsch, the managing director of the Startzentrum Zurich. According to an article in the “Affolter Anzeiger”, Goetsch encouraged those present to use a visual planning model to deal concretely with their own business ideas, with customer profiles, customer benefits, offer sketches and revenue models. The speaker’s slides can be viewed online.

    For the follow-up date on 29 June, exchange talks are planned on the topic of challenges in setting up a business. Registrations are requested by 22 June. In addition, the location promoter offers personal advice via the Start Centre and Startbox Zurich, a digital start-up guide for setting up a business in the Canton of Zurich.

  • Home2050.ch now advises on solar, heating and e-charging stations

    Home2050.ch now advises on solar, heating and e-charging stations

    The Basel-based energy supplier Primeo Energie , the Elektra Baselland cooperative ( EBL ) and the Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank ( BLKB ) have transformed their joint solar advice platform sun2050.ch into home2050.ch . According to apress release , they are reacting to the fact that their customers' requests for advice are increasingly going beyond the optimal photovoltaic solution for their property.

    That's why the range of advice on home2050.ch now also includes questions about heating replacements and your own e-charging stations. As before, homeowners receive free reference offers for photovoltaic systems on the newly designed website and can then register for a fee-based individual consultation. BLKB continues to support interested parties with a specially created energy mortgage.

    According to EBL CEO Tobias Andrist, the energy transition can only succeed in cooperation with the population. The three partners therefore want to "generate real added value" for their customers by "with the cooperation home 2050.ch we offer a simple and effective solution for the procurement of your solar system, your new heating system or your new e-charging station".

  • Renewal of the Läbespark retirement home

    Renewal of the Läbespark retirement home

    The four existing main buildings and other auxiliary buildings in the Läbespark retirement home in Biberist are getting on in years: they were built between 1969 and 1995. In order to improve the quality of life for around 100 residents, the cooperative had a refurbishment project drawn up. Phalt Architekten AG, Wam Planer und Ingenieure AG and Neuland ArchitekturLandschaft GmbH were commissioned for this. A committee consisting of representatives of the Biberist community, the responsible cooperative and various experts accompanied the process.

    The alignment project forms the basis for the design plan process and the further project elaboration. The oldest house at Blümlisalpstrasse 12 will be replaced by a new building. The height of this is based on the existing building. Compact small apartments based on the Bonacasa building standard are planned. The 1.5 to 3.5 room apartments will have a wet room with a laundry tower and a loggia facing the park-like inner courtyard. A reduit complements the larger apartments. «The existing restaurant / café Pintli will move into the new building. To do this, we are revitalizing the premises of the former Pintli with commercial and service uses, ”says Ronny Fluri from Bonainvest AG, which takes on the building owner function for the cooperative. A common room is also planned, which should also promote social contact among the residents. The new building will have a parking garage.

    So the previous parking lot can give way to a piazza. “We are thus creating another meeting zone and upgrading the area. Our green park with a small pond will have a herb garden, more seating and various exercise elements that are intended to provide incentives for the residents, ”explains Fluri. The surrounding quarter will be better networked by footpaths. But there is still one problem to be solved: “The building that is being replaced has heating for two more houses. We would like to work with geothermal probes in the future. However, various investigations are still ongoing, ”says Fluri. When this has happened, the other buildings can at least be refurbished in terms of energy. There is still some time until construction begins: work is scheduled to start in 2023. The new building should be ready for occupancy at the end of 2024.