Senate - Criticism of CDU high-rise plans
The president of the Berlin Chamber of Architects, Theresa Keilhacker, is critical of the CDU parliamentary group's proposals for more high-rise buildings in the capital. "High-rise construction has actually become increasingly anachronistic over the last 20 years," she told the "Tagesspiegel" (Monday). It is certainly not one of the most climate-friendly construction methods. Significantly higher demands on the statics and thus the building fabric as well as on the system technology not only made high-rise buildings more harmful to the climate, but often also less economical.
The German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation is also skeptical. "While high-rise buildings up to 60 meters are still relatively uncritical from an ecological point of view, the consumption of resources for construction and operation increases enormously with taller buildings," Tilmann Heuser, Managing Director of the Berlin region, told the newspaper. "The higher the buildings are, the less favorable the ratio of construction volume to usable building area becomes."
At its closed meeting on the last weekend of November, the CDU parliamentary group adopted the position paper "Radically vertical - high-rise buildings as a beacon of urban development". In it, the MPs advocate a high-rise development plan for Berlin. At the end of the meeting, parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner demanded: "Berlin should have a significantly higher skyline with defining skyscrapers in some places. We absolutely have to plan upwards in order to protect green open spaces."
"Tagesspiegel" report
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The criticism towards the CDU parliamentary group's high-rise plans in Berlin extends beyond the architecture community. The Daily Mirror also voiced concerns, stating that the proposed high-rise developments could exacerbate Germany's existing housing shortage. The Senate, however, remains undeterred and continues to advocate for high-rise construction, viewing it as a solution to protect green open spaces in the city. The CDU's position paper, titled "Radically vertical - high-rise buildings as a beacon of urban development," was adopted during their closed meeting in November. Notably, the House of Representatives' leader, Dirk Stettner, emphasized the need for Berlin to have a significantly higher skyline with prominent skyscrapers.
Source: www.stern.de
