Zurich: "Seebahn-Höfe" project passes the city council
The large-scale cooperative project, as part of which 350 new apartments are to be built, is an important step forward.
Zurich City Council has approved the "Seebahn-Höfe" private design plan. This enables the Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ) and the Baugenossenschaft des eidgenössischen Personals (BEP) to build non-profit apartments for 1,000 people in District 4. There are also plans for communal areas as well as space for childcare, businesses, local amenities and restaurants.
The replacement buildings for the ABZ's "Kanzlei" and BEP's "Seebahn" housing estates will increase the number of apartments by around 30 % from the current 269 to around 350, doubling the number of residents. The city also expects the project to increase the variety of housing on offer and improve noise protection and accessibility for the disabled. Instead of just 3- to 4-room apartments as before, the estates will in future comprise units of 1.5 to 9.5 rooms. Half of the additional utilization will be stipulated as affordable housing in the private design plan in accordance with § 49b of the cantonal planning and building law. One fifth of all apartments will be subsidized and thus reserved for low-income households.
District heating and few parking spaces
The existing trees, some of which are old, will be integrated into the new green inner courtyards wherever possible. Together with the green roof areas and front gardens, they will help to reduce the heat in the densely built-up district. A connection to the municipal district heating network is planned to ensure a CO2-neutral heat supply. The design plan also stipulates the development of a mobility concept to reduce the number of parking spaces to below the minimum required by the parking ordinance.
Last summer, the Department of Buildings approved the design plan for the project. The private design plan was then published. (aw)
