At the end of 2023, the city administration commissioned the Berlin office dbp dasbauprojekt to evaluate all the available expert reports on the technical and structural condition of the City Hall. This is now available. The office concluded that the City Hall, which was built between 1974 and 1977 to a design by Heinle, Wischer und Partner and occupied in 1978, could be renovated in principle. A so-called core renovation would be possible, i.e. the building would be completely dismantled down to the shell. The property would also be suitable for refurbishment from a building law perspective.
The available expert reports on the shell, fire protection, earthquake safety, façade, building technology and pollutants were evaluated.
Façade and building technology need to be fundamentally renewed
The façade and building technology are outdated and need to be replaced. In addition to the heating, cooling and ventilation systems, the building technology also includes the water supply and the entire electrical and communication technology.
The pollutants typically installed in the years of construction would have to be professionally dismantled as part of a refurbishment. These are solid asbestos and KMF (= artificial mineral fibers). PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PAH-containing building materials (PAH = polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were not found.
The shell of the City Hall could be remediated. It has been known for some time that, among other things, the column bases on the parking decks need to be extensively renovated. The first temporary support measures have already been carried out recently. The annual monitoring of the supports has shown that further temporary measures will be necessary if the actual refurbishment does not begin within the next two years.
Consideration of economic efficiency
From a sustainability perspective, it would make sense to continue using the shell of the building. The City Hall contains around 40 thousand cubic meters of reinforced concrete, the production of which used around 13,200 tons of CO2. It would take 438,000 trees a year to absorb this amount of CO2.
The building cost the equivalent of 93.31 million euros at the time of construction. Today, taking into account that the construction price index quadrupled between 1977 and 2023, that would be just under 400 million euros.
Currently, the maintenance costs for servicing the building technology, electricity, district heating and investments in essential maintenance measures amount to 7.5 million euros per year, with a clear upward trend. For this reason, the experts suggest defining an end of useful life and limiting investments to a minimum.
Expert recommends moving out by 2027 at the latest
In view of the large number of existing defects confirmed by the experts and the high risk of failure of the building technology, dbp recommends that the almost 50-year-old building, which houses around 1,500 administrative employees, a Kita, a kiosk, a restaurant and a public parking garage with 300 car and 70 bicycle parking spaces, be vacated by 2027 at the latest.
Steffen Göbel from dasbauprojekt (dbp) explains the results of the evaluation: "These expert reports provide a very comprehensive picture of the condition of the City Hall. The necessary decisions can now be made on this basis."
Next steps
Mayor Katja Dörner: "It is good and important that there is now clarity about the condition of the City Hall. As the expert classifies the building as suitable for refurbishment, all options remain on the table. Now we need an intensive discussion about how we want to use the City Hall site in the future."
City Director Wolfgang Fuchs: "After years of uncertainty about the possible useful life of the City Hall, we now have a recommendation from the expert that the administration agrees with. The proposal is to move out by 2027 at the latest. If the city council follows our recommendation, we will begin preparations for a planned move as soon as possible."
The administration proposes that the City Council set up a project to prepare a fundamental decision on the future use of the City Hall and the City Hall site as a whole before the end of 2024. This and the decision on a possible move out will be on the council's agenda at its next meeting on March 14.
Draft resolution published
The city administration has published the corresponding draft resolution here (opens in a new tab).