Planning services are to be provided for the construction of a new base building in Balje at the Oste estuary. The building includes offices, workshop and storage areas, vehicle hall, sanitary and social wing, as well as a vehicle washing area. The space requirement plan comprises a net usable area of 806 m².

The order covers work phases 1 to 7.

The building physics processing and the structural planning are also to be provided for the work phases 1 to 7.

Planning objective:

On the federally owned property, Neuenhof 9, in 21730 Balje on the Lower Elbe, located directly on the banks of the Oste next to the Oste barrage, the Elbe-Nordsee Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA EN) wants to build a new company building. The existing company, the base of the outskirts of Cuxhaven of the WSA EN, is to be accommodated in a future-proof manner.

The main focus of the outlying district of Cuxhaven is waterway construction on and in the Elbe. From here, mainly the management operation is carried out for the constant control and occasional repair of the banks and facilities. Tasks for waterway monitoring, inspection of the waterway including water bed, inspection, monitoring and repair of shipping facilities are processed. In addition, the outskirts take over river police monitoring tasks and regulate the navigation sign system. Another area of work is the monitoring of river and shipping police of approved private facilities on the waterway.

Since 2010, work has been underway to establish this base in Balje. The existing storm surge-proof location under the protection of the barrage, on its own premises in the Oste estuary in Balje in the immediate vicinity of the main work area on the Lower Elbe is to be regarded as an ideal location.

The construction project to be planned here includes the construction of a workshop and warehouse with an adjoining office and social wing. A hazardous materials warehouse is built separately from the warehouse.

Existing uses on the property

The operating building for the Oste barrage is already located on the company premises northeast of the planned construction site. This will be maintained and will continue to be used. The operating facilities of the Oste barrage housed here remain independent. They must not be impaired by the new construction project at issue here. Potentially disturbing effects on the neighborhood must be minimized.

During construction, repair work is also expected to take place on the Oste barrage, for which construction site equipment and storage areas must be provided on the company premises. However, the site is considered large enough so that the respective construction work can easily be carried out undisturbed by each other at the same time.

In the south-eastern area of the site, a modern pier for the supervisory and working vessels of the WSA EN has already been built, which was completed in 2020. There is a close operational connection to this pier. In addition, there is a provisional operating building composed of containers, in which the base is currently - still insufficiently - housed. This container village is in poor structural condition, but must remain usable during the construction project until the base employees can move into the new building. Then the old container village is to be dismantled.

According to the current state of knowledge, there are no areas relevant to nature conservation or species protection, soil or architectural monuments or similar objects to be protected on the property.

Sustainable construction

The principles of the federal government for sustainable building are applied, and the company building is to function locally as an exemplary project of the federal government for sustainable building. For this reason, the building must safely achieve the silver quality level of the Federal Sustainable Building Rating System (BNB).

The comfort conditions to be created in the building should be achieved as naturally as possible. This means that robust, low-maintenance, structural solutions are preferable to technical solutions. Only if this is not possible, technical solutions should be used (low-tech approach). Special attention must be paid to reducing the operating and usage costs of the property.

Existing preliminary planning - house and function

A preliminary investigation has already been carried out for the building planning, which already corresponds in essential parts to a preliminary planning (performance phase 2) (new construction of the Balje base on the outskirts of Cuxhaven preliminary investigation.pdf).

The space requirements planning as well as a first preliminary draft for the room book according to the guidelines for the implementation of construction tasks of the federal government (RBBau) are available.

Functional areas

The office and social wing comprises a multifunctional room, changing rooms, a drying room (TR), a room for "personal protective equipment" (PPE), wet rooms with toilets and showers for 15 people according to the staff plan (permanent staff, trainees and trainers), a cleaning agent room (PuMi), a storage room and offices for the hydraulic engineer, foreman and project manager / building representative. Due to the on-site training, a learning office for trainees must also be planned.

The persons regularly stay at the base or cross it at certain times, such as start of service, lunchtime, end of service, etc. For this reason, a correspondingly high frequency is to be expected due to the number of employees.

Furthermore, the printer and copy room, the first aid room and the file and storage room are combined in one room unit.

The house connection room is provided together with the rest of the TGA in the workshop. Access is possible both from the workshop and from the outside space (floor plan Annex 5 of the preliminary investigation).

The continuous façade of the workshop and warehouse is based directly on the office and social wing. The hall is used for weatherproof and theft-proof storage of equipment and material. The workshop contained therein serves the preparation of work, the maintenance of the implements including a training workshop for the trainees in hydraulic engineering. The hall is to be built with an upstream canopy roof of 5 meters. It must be ensured that the hall can be driven through and bypassed by truck. On the northern gable, the canopy roof cantilevers out and serves as a weather-independent work preparation.

The storage of building materials, both outside and inside, must take place in high-bay warehouses. For this purpose, level traffic areas for forklift trucks must be created.

In addition, a hazardous materials warehouse including access must be built with the necessary distance to the building complex. Paints, fuels, lubricants are stored for the needs of a suburb that are necessary for the monthly requirement.

In the outdoor area, a washing area for all types of vehicles with coalescing separator must be planned.

In addition, a separate sewage treatment plant and a separate house connection must be planned. A discharge of the treated wastewater into the Oste is planned and will be examined before construction begins.