Zurich: Referendum for Hardturm project goes ahead
The people of Zurich will again vote on the Ensemble project, which is to be built on the Hardturm site.
According to a statement by IG Freiräume Zürich West, more than 5,000 signatures have been collected in less than six weeks against the construction project by Credit Suisse, HRS and Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ). 2,000 signatures are required for a referendum. This means that a new referendum will be held in May 2020 on the design of the 55,000-square-meter site.
The IG is of the opinion that the construction project on the Hardturm violates in particular the requirements of the Green City Initiative, the specifications of the municipal structure plan, the net-zero CO2 target, and the requirement that at least one-third of new projects be built with cooperative apartments.
At the end of October 2019, the majority of the Zurich City Parliament voted in favor of the private design plan for the site. The Ensemble project envisages the construction of 174 cooperative apartments, a stadium for around 18,000 spectators and two 137-meter-high high-rises with around 570 apartments and office space. According to earlier information, the total costs amount to around CHF 570 million.
Originally, the stadium was to be ready in 2022, with the high-rise buildings and cooperative apartments to follow in stages from 2023. This timetable will now probably be postponed by half a year as a result of the referendum. If the project is rejected in the referendum, new plans will have to be drawn up. (ah)
