Kassel is planning a new technical town hall: Are important offices united?

Kassel is planning a new technical town hall: Are important offices united?

The city of Kassel plans to buy the former building complex of the gas group Wintershall Dea on Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse. This project comes after Wintershall Dea was sold to the British oil company Harbor Energy in September 2024. Of the originally 500 employees, only 28 are still working in Kassel, which meant that the building is largely empty. Mayor Sven Schoeller (Greens) confirmed that talks with Wintershall Dea have already been held. The city administration sees the building a central opportunity to make important services more effectively accessible to citizens.

The planned purchase is intended to integrate the new administrative unit, the so -called technical town hall, there. This includes the accommodation of departments such as urban planning and construction supervision. Previously, the city had considered another building on the outskirts of the city center, but has now decided on the centrally located building. In addition, two undeveloped areas nearby should also be acquired that offer potential for future structural developments.

planned use and decision appointments

The Technical City Hall is intended to offer space for all technical offices in the city of Kassel on a usable area of ​​over 20,000 square meters. The city's property committee plans to decide on the purchase on February 12th. The final decision should then be made in the city council on February 24th. If all committees agree, the transfer of ownership could take place in October 2025. The exact purchase price for the building has not yet been known.

Wintershall Dea supports the city's plans and has deposited an intention to buy. The company wants the property to be used sensibly. This conversion could not only improve the administrative location, but also to optimize access to essential civic services.

context of urban development

The need for such infrastructural changes is also part of a larger city-internal strategy for digitizing administrative services. Citizens leave a lot of data in everyday life through administrative digitization and digital offers. This offers the municipalities an important basis for analyzing the needs of citizens and incorporating into urban development. Here, the “Correct use of municipal data” action guidelines from the Fraunhofer Institute for Working Management and Organization IAO is discussed. Four fields of action are shown that help municipal administrations advance their digital transformation.

With modern digital services, the inclusion of citizens in change processes is to be promoted. Processes such as virtual reality applications and digital platforms are becoming increasingly important to actively involve citizens in urban development. This represents a valuable development that could be promoted by the planned use of the Wintershall Dea building together with other urban initiatives.