Guidelines for the development of commercial sites

In order to be able to flexibly meet local demand for expansions and relocations, all municipalities should have a basic stock of available commercial sites with legally binding development plans that is sufficient for at least five years. The main target groups and location types here are trade and (non-disruptive) commerce as well as industry and production.

There is an increased need for land in municipalities with employment focal points in the regional spatial planning program (RROP), because these not only have to serve their own municipal needs, but are also attractive for relocations within the region and for supra-regional settlements.

Employment centers are located in the medium-sized centers of Barsinghausen, Burgdorf, Burgwedel, Garbsen, Laatzen, Langenhagen, Lehrte, Neustadt, Springe and Wunstorf, as well as in Isernhagen/Kirchhorst, Wedemark/Berkhof, Wedemark/Gailhof and the regional center of Hanover.

For larger supra-regional settlements - in addition to areas for municipal own requirements and expansion and relocation requirements at the main employment centers - locations close to the freeway are particularly needed, which, for example, allow three-shift operation or night-time truck handling. This primarily concerns the location types industry/production and logistics .

In 2012, the Hannover Region already defined standards for so-called priority locations and supplementary locations for large logistics settlements in the region's logistics area concept.

Of the priority locations named in the logistics area concept, all areas at the Barsinghausen/Groß Munzel location have already been sold (including the e-mobility component plant for VW), while large areas at the Wunstorf-Süd/Trimodal location have now also been marketed (including HAVI and Rudoph Logistik).

This also applies to most of the supplementary locations such as Burgwedel/Großburgwedel (Fiege relocation, Rossmann expansion), Garbsen-West (Amazon), Laatzen (Krauss Maffei), Lehrte/Aligse (ALDI food logistics center) and Wedemark/Berkhof (REWE logistics). As a result, it is currently not possible to adequately serve large-scale industrial and logistics companies.

The transformation of the economy towards digitalization, the changing world of work as well as climate and resource protection pose new challenges for commercial space development and the urban design of locations:

• Office space and services are primarily displacing or supplementing inner-city production space. Existing properties are increasingly being let to start-ups and co-working spaces.
• There are opportunities for lower-emission production companies in integrated urban locations with neighboring office and residential areas.
• Public transport connections and local amenities are becoming increasingly important as location factors.
• Proximity to research and technology transfer facilities is becoming even more important, especially for research and development companies.

Suitable sites for new types of low-emission industry are located at the interfaces between research institutions and office locations (e.g. Technology Park at the Mechanical Engineering Campus Garbsen, Hanover/Science Park Marienwerder Science Area 30X, Roderbruch/Medical Park, Hanover/Veterinary School) as well as at office and service locations (Bemerode/Stockholmer Strasse, Expo Park) or in mixed-use areas (e.g. Hanover-Nordstadt/Hafven, Hanover/Hanomag site).

The amount of space available for knowledge and technology-oriented businesses was increased by over two hectares (+ 19 %) in the year under review thanks to the new Kirchrode/Aspelweg site.

This increases the amount of space available in this category to 9 ha at six locations in Garbsen and Hanover (Technology Park at Campus Maschinenbau Garbsen, Hanover/Science Park Marienwerder Science Area 30X (three sub-areas), Bemerode/Stockholmer Strasse and Kirchrode/Aspelweg).

On the one hand, it is essential to be able to offer suitable locations in the supra-regional competition for large new research facilities, while on the other hand, smaller-scale areas are also needed for rental properties, for example for creative industries, start-ups, laboratory space or co-working (e.g. Hafven, Hanomag site).

Additional sites should have an integrated urban location with very good public transport connections and local amenities. Areas for internal development (e.g. brownfield sites, existing commercial areas) may be more suitable for this than "greenfield" sites. In addition to the city of Hanover, possible locations include Laatzen, Langenhagen and Garbsen, and possibly also Isernhagen/Altwarmbüchen and Hemmingen-Westerfeld/Devese.

Not only the state capital Hannover, but also a number of surrounding municipalities have older industrial and commercial areas in which the location and development requirements have changed: Office uses and services are displacing production and industry, small parcels of SMEs are replacing large industrial areas, goods are transported by truck and car instead of by barge and freight train.

These existing commercial areas are often characterized by vacancies, derelict land, inappropriate uses (e.g. scrap dealerships, car rental companies, entertainment venues) and retail infiltration. They open up the possibility of locating non-disruptive businesses, services and local supply facilities or mixed uses in the inner area and thus partially compensating for the consumption of open space through new designations.

On the one hand, this opens up the possibility for local production companies to consolidate their existing locations, and on the other hand, it offers the opportunity to transform entire districts in traditional industrial and commercial areas through immission control measures, new development and overplanning. At the same time, against the backdrop of the climate transition, there is a need to focus more on biodiversity in public and private areas in existing districts and to support the businesses located there in their transformation to a sustainable and climate-neutral economy (green economy).

This applies to measures in open spaces and traffic areas (such as insect-friendly greening, unsealing, rainwater infiltration) as well as on or around business premises (e.g. insulation, photovoltaics, roof and façade greening or, in production, primarily energy, material and resource efficiency, circular economy).

Exemplary inner-city development areas are located in the state capital of Hanover in Leinhausen/Entenfangweg, Lister Damm/Am Listholze and Lindener Hafen, and in the surrounding areas in Hemmingen/Westerfeld, Isernhagen/Altwarmbüchen, Isernhagen/HB, Lehrte/Burchardt-Retschy-Ring and Wennigsen.

The revitalization of potentially commercially reusable brownfield sites is a special form of internal development. In future, it makes sense to focus more on the entire district when revitalizing and to pursue an integrated approach that first conceptually explores the risks and opportunities of reuse and then promotes tailor-made investment measures for implementation (e.g. interim acquisition, demolition, redevelopment) (see REGIP funding programme of the Hannover Region).

Corresponding concept and planning studies for urban development concepts were funded by the Hannover Region for the Ronnenberg/Weetzen sugar factory, the former ironworks site in Neustadt and the VION site in Wunstorf and are currently being implemented.

However, due to the increasing shortage of available commercial space, the number and potential of brownfield sites has also fallen sharply. The number of sites included in this category halved from 16 to eight between 2019 and 2022, but increased by two sites in 2023 and by four sites in the previous year.

However, the removal of a larger area means that the increase in the number of smaller brownfield sites cannot compensate for the reduction in area, which means that the brownfield stock has fallen by 2.2 ha. The reason for the reduction in the brownfield stock is the fact that less contaminated properties are being put to new (commercial) uses on the free real estate market through overplanning or rising land prices.

Remaining brownfield sites, such as Deurag-Nerag in Hanover-Misburg, are characterized by particularly high restrictions on use. The developments surrounding a possible future for the Deurag-Nerag site are therefore particularly welcome.