Urban development on Holstenfleet in Kiel
Construction work on an outstanding urban development project in Kiel was completed in November 2020. The state capital of Schleswig-Holstein built a new center in the heart of the city center for around 18.5 million euros. Under the name “Holstenfleet“, a 170-metre-long and 10-metre-wide canal has been created here since 2017, bringing the water back into Kiel’s old town with high-quality landscaped edges. The surface in this area was paved with a special paving material that meets all the visual and functional requirements of this special project. After more than a year of intensive use, the planners can state that the approximately 6,000 m² paved surfaces have passed their test.
Kiel’s skyline is traditionally characterized by large ships and imposing shipyard cranes. Thanks to the realization of the project, there is now even more maritime flair in Kiel’s city centre. “We are thus tying in with the history of this location,” explains Dipl.-Ing. Jens Neunert – project manager from the civil engineering office of the state capital of Kiel. “Originally, the old town was surrounded by water like a peninsula, because until the beginning of the last century, a canal connected the so-called boat harbor directly on the fjord and the Kleiner Kiel, a freshwater lake on the edge of the old town. However, this was filled in in the course of urban development. For many years until the start of the redevelopment work, there was a six-lane road here with a bus interchange in the middle,” says Neunert.
Urban space becomes an oasis
This has now been reversed with the “Holstenfleet” project. Between the old town and the suburbs, where the city’s main shopping areas are located, a series of water basins have been created in place of the former traffic artery. The urban space designed by bgmr landscape architects from Berlin has become an oasis in the middle of the city: with reed filtration, rows of Hungarian lime trees and swamp oaks as well as large beds of grasses and perennials in large plant troughs. Wooden benches and other seating options as well as various bridges on the banks invite visitors to linger. Water features and islands make it possible to actively use the new facility. In the evening, the new space is bathed in a subtle indirect light with luminaires under the benches and the bridge railings.
Example of the mobility turnaround
Today, Holstenfleet is a successful example of the mobility turnaround: Where many motor vehicles once dominated the cityscape, today only a few bus routes and bicycle and delivery traffic use the new environmental route along the Holstenfleet. No other motorized private transport is permitted. Around 800 buses and various cabs use this shared space every day. As a traffic-calming measure, the landscape architects had epoxy resin-bonded fine chippings applied to the asphalt and color-coordinated so that signaling stripes in three different shades of grey run across the roadway. The adjacent paving, which adorns the edges of the water features, was also incorporated into the design by continuing the stripe pattern here. The planners opted for the architectural paving plus in the fine version from BERDING BETON.
Maneuvering trucks on the surfaces
Jens Neunert continues: “In the state capital of Kiel, we often use the 25 cm grid when paving public areas. That’s why we opted for the 25 x 25 and 25 x 50 cm formats when paving the approximately 6,000 m² of concrete paving here too. With the colors granite-white/grey, granite-natural grey and granite-anthracite, we were able to create the desired striped pattern. The surface of the paving is water-blasted, giving it a very elegant and lively appearance. In addition to the visual properties of the paving, it was also important to us that the paved surfaces would be able to withstand the traffic loads over the long term. Although the areas are primarily used by pedestrians and cyclists, the loads generated by the daily delivery traffic towards the pedestrian zone should not be underestimated. Not to mention major events such as Kieler Woche. When the showmen’s trucks maneuver on the areas, very high shear forces act on the paved surfaces. For this reason, we opted for paving with a very special anti-displacement device,” says Neunert.
Architectural paving plus from BERDING BETON
The architectural paving plus from BERDING BETON comes from the Einstein paving family and has a special interlocking technology that allows loads of up to BK 3.2. This is due to the interlocking elements, which are arranged in pairs to prevent the blocks from shifting against each other. To ensure that the joint required to absorb traffic loads is always maintained, this 14 cm thick paving is equipped with so-called D-point joint technology. This ensures that there is only minimal contact at certain points on the bottom edges of the stones when they are laid. This prevents crunching and ensures that the joint required to absorb traffic loads is always maintained, thus guaranteeing optimum force transmission between the stones.
The Holstenfleet has since won several awards, including one at the German Landscape Architecture Prize 2021. Even after more than a year of intensive use, the planners state that the paved areas on the Holstenfleet have passed their test. Jens Neunert comments: “The paving is still visually and technically in perfect condition – there is no visible damage to the surface.”
