Improvement of the living environment Residential area in Berg Fidel, Münster

Redesign of the open spaces in the multi-storey residential buildings, rearrangement of the bicycle and car parking areas, rearrangement of the waste disposal areas, upgrading of the entrance areas, creation of tenant gardens, barrier-free access to the lift levels of the buildings, lighting and equipment.

Further explanations
Initial situation
Berg Fidel is one of the southern districts of Münster. It is characterised by a residential quarter with several multi-storey residential buildings from the 1970s.

The majority of these residential buildings with approx. 690 residential units belong to the properties of the former Wohnungsgesellschaft Münsterland mbH, now LEG Wohnen NRW GmbH, Münster department. The building heights vary between 4 and 11 floors and the residential units (WE) per building are 8-38 WE.

From a floor height of more than 4 floors, the buildings are equipped with elevators, whereby the elevator level begins on the first mezzanine floor, i.e. 4-6 steps above the entrance level. This means that the elevator in the existing building could not be reached barrier-free.

All apartments are equipped with balconies, whereby the balconies on the ground floor are located approx. 1.50 m above the ground level, a direct access to the outside space was therefore not possible. In the 1990s, the decision was made to eliminate deficiencies in the neighbourhood by means of a long-term structural improvement concept and thus to sustainably improve the quality of living and the quality of stay. Tenants were involved in the redesign process by means of tenant information and tenant meetings.

The main objectives for improving residential satisfaction and quality of stay were:

- To promote address formation and identification
- To enable participation
- To achieve orientation and recognition
- To create quality of stay and use
- To achieve suitability for everyday use and to remove barriers
Implementation
Following extensive analyses of the existing situation, construction work on the buildings and the open spaces began in 1999. The construction phases III, V and VI shown below were implemented in the years 2004 to 2010.

In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, functional and creative redesigns of the building entrances, building facades, balconies and bicycle cellars were carried out in the building construction. In the open spaces, the building access areas, bicycle storage and garbage areas, the pathways and vegetation areas as well as the car parking spaces were redesigned and functionally upgraded.

In addition, barrier-free tenant gardens were created for the ground floor apartments. Staircases were redesigned in such a way that they were supplemented with a ramp system in interaction with the course of the stairs. In connection with the tenant gardens, extensive earth fillings were made to the buildings.

This made it possible to also ensure barrier-free access to the elevator level by harmoniously integrating the necessary garden paths between tenant gardens and common areas into the overall planning, thus ensuring access to the elevator in addition to their general development function. This has made it possible to provide barrier-free access to all apartments in the relevant buildings.

With the measures implemented, the declared objective has also been sustainably achieved from an economic point of view.