Redefining Urban Sustainability at Berlin's EUREF Campus

00:05 

Davion Ford  

Welcome to Better Cities by Design, a podcast brought to you by Arcadis, where we talk to change-makers who are working to make our cities better places for people to live, work and play. I'm your host, Davion Ford. This is a special episode of the pod, in which we will take an immersive journey to Berlin, one of Europe’s most vibrant and forward-thinking cities and also the capital city of Germany. We’re going to discover the EUREF Campus a unique, innovative space in the city that is pushing the boundaries of urban sustainability.  

00:47 

Davion Ford  

Known for its forward-thinking spirit, Berlin is a place where the past and future coexist. From being the epicenter of historic change during the Cold War to becoming a global hub for creativity, technology, and sustainability, Berlin has always been a city that thrives on transformation. Today, Berlin is home to more than 3.8 million people and boasts one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech and innovation ecosystems. It’s a city that’s as much about preserving green and blue spaces—over 40% of its surface area—as it is about building cutting-edge infrastructure. And it’s here, in Berlin, that we find the EUREF Campus, a living laboratory for sustainable urban development and innovation. To really bring this story to life, we asked our special correspondent Serafin Dinges, to take a walking tour of the campus. Along the way, you’ll hear from Karin Teichmann, spokesperson for EUREF AG, and Birgit Detig from Arcadis, as they share fascinating insights into how the EUREF Campus is redefining what it means to create a smart, sustainable, and future-ready urban space. So, get ready to immerse yourself in the energy and vision of Berlin as we explore one of its most forward-thinking urban projects.  

02:20 

Serafin Dinges 

If you imagine that EUREF Campus in Berlin as a small village, Karin Teichmann would be something like the mayor. 

02:30 

Karin Teichmann 

Well, we are in Tempelhof, directly next to the Schöneberg station, just inside the S-Bahn ring on a former gasometer. 

02:38 

Serafin Dinges 

Currently stood on top of the gasometer, a former gas holder. From here, we've got a view of the entire campus with its 7,000 desk spaces, multiple restaurants and events venues, charging stations for electronic cars and the university. 

02:56 

Karin Teichmann 

We've got 360° view of Berlin from up here. 

03:00 

Serafin Dinges 

We are surrounded by a circular scaffolding made of dark metal, somewhat reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower that stands 78 meters tall like a cylinder. The former Berlin Schöneberg gasometer. It was put into operation in 1913. The expressionist painter Lyonel Feininger portrayed it back then. A gigantic steel structure towering behind passing trains at the nearby Südkreuz station. Until 1995, gas for West Berlin was stored here. For almost a century it was a monument to Berlin's energy supply. Ever since, it's been a listed building. 

03:41 

Karin Teichmann 

And we took this up with the EUREF Campus. We just knew, this is a location where we need to work on the topic of energy and the energy transition.  

03:50 

Serafin Dinges 

In 2007, the EUREF Campus started development here. A real world laboratory for the transition towards renewable energy. Since then, the energy infrastructure of the past meets future innovations here. For our mayor, the real work doesn't happen up above, but right in the middle. Because right here inside the steel frame, the EUREF developers have built a new office building. 

04:19 

Karin Teichmann 

This building is actually made-up of two separate buildings. There is a historic gasometer, a listed building, and we have built into this historical monument. Of course, that made the construction work horribly complicated. Because we had to lift everything into the gasometer with huge cranes. And then there's the round shape of the building which makes it so special. The offices have practically no right angles. They're all pie-shaped. That gives the whole thing a very special atmosphere. 

04:52 

Serafin Dinges 

Since summer 2024, these are the new offices of Deutsche Bahn’s Digital Rail. Directly below on the first 2 of the 15 floors: a new event space. As we toured the premises, the final construction work is still in full swing. Masking tape is being removed from the floor, while a specially hired band plays to the empty hall to test the audio technology and the acoustics. 

05:20 

Karin Teichmann 

This is a large event room where we can fit… How many can we fit in here now? 

05:25 

Construction Worker 

970 under ideal circumstances.  

05:28 

Serafin Dinges 

Karin Teichmann is approached at every turn. 

05:33 

Karin Teichmann 

And are you satisfied with the sound?  

05:34 

Construction Worker 

What do you say? 

05:36 

Karin Teichmann 

Look yeah, I've only just walked through here, but the atmosphere is really cool. It would be great to hear someone actually play music here.  

05:45 

Serafin Dinges 

It’s particularly busy at the moment because Ursula von der Leyen, the German politician and EU Commission President, has announced a last minute visit. She wants to come by in a few days to take a look at the project. All in a day's work for Mrs. Teichmann. Especially in recent years, well known politicians and business representatives have been known to come by to take a look at this flagship project. They want to see how EUREF Campus managed to create a site that is attractive to both researchers and businesses, while also showcasing sustainable building construction. These days, companies are competing for office space here. In addition to Deutsche Bahn companies such as Audi, Schneider Electric, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, the founder of Institute and of course, Arcadis have office locations here. There are also a whole host of smaller startups and the Technical University of Berlin offers a few courses here. GASAG, which originally operated the gasometer, has also returned. But the campus wasn't always considered such a flagship project. In fact, initially there was quite some skepticism that such an ambitious project could really be achieved. 

06:59 

Karin Teichmann 

That was 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis. Investments like this one here in real estate projects seemed either courageous or reckless. 

07:10 

Serafin Dinges 

Karin Teichmann herself has been involved for eight years as a spokeswoman for the board of the EUREF AG, the developer behind the campus. I asked her what the biggest challenges were that they encountered during the project.  

07:26 

Karin Teichmann 

It's always the same hurdles that you come across in Germany. It's an administration that doesn't believe in such projects. That just isn't very innovative. Politicians are cautious, so we've received little support there. On the contrary, we've always been told why this won't and can't work anyway. So we're really, really grateful to the universities and the companies that believed in us. And thought it was actually possible.  

07:55 

Serafin Dinges 

Mrs. Teichmann herself, on the other hand, was easily convinced by the idea of working on a project like this. It all sounded very enticing to her, showcasing how he can build both well and sustainable within the confines of a listed building.  

08:10 

Karin Teichmann 

That was extremely challenging. It's always important to remember that buildings like this one are only viable if they have a subsequent use. That’s why all the other gasometers were demolished, because they're no longer in use. These are discussions that we had to have with the heritage authorities. If you want to keep these old buildings empty as scaffolding, you can. The only question is who pays for that? Who will renovate it? Who will maintain it in the coming years? And that's why I think it's pretty smart to adapt this monument to the present. 

08:47 

Serafin Dinges 

And where others might say, it doesn't pay off, EUREF took the risk and today they know it was worth it. In fact, it's part of the appeal. 

08:10 

Karin Teichmann 

There are vacancies after all, even in newly built office spaces. But that's something we absolutely can't confirm here on the EUREF Campus. We actually have waiting lists. That means we may have invested a little more into the construction. There is then demand for these properties. Companies want to invest in energy transition, want, or even have to rent such space because their own ESG goals dictate it. And so, it is definitely an economically sensible investment. 

09:34 

Serafin Dinges 

But the biggest challenge that the EUREF Campus wants to tackle is undoubtedly climate change. 

09:44 

Karin Teichmann 

Which we have to face and which we can of course only face with innovation. Almost everyone now believes that conventional methods don't work. This means we have to rethink and develop new methods. We also know that many people are not prepared to give up a conventional level of prosperity and comfort for this. This encourages innovation even more. In other words, people want to be just as mobile. They want to be warm and still act in a climate friendly way and we are succeeding here in showing what is already possible. 

10:17 

Serafin Dinges 

And this is exactly what they pride themselves to have achieved on the EUREF Campus. 

10:24 

Karin Teichmann 

We show that the energy transition is feasible and affordable. As a private project developer, we have achieved this without any subsidies, without any significant support from politics or government. And we even make money doing it. We make it work. 

10:42 

Serafin Dinges 

How that works? Mrs. Teichmann shows me in another area of the campus, the gasometer being only one of many buildings here. 

10:55 

Karin Teichmann 

We have three types of building on the campus. We have the listed historic old brick buildings. We have 70s and 80s administration buildings, and we have very modern, energy efficient new buildings. That's great in terms of campus logic. There are companies that are looking for exactly this brick atmosphere. Of course, there are many more companies that are looking for energy efficient new buildings, but it's also smart that we have these administrative buildings from the 70s and 80s, which may seem less attractive at first glance. But these are precisely the areas that we can rent out to young companies, startups and the Technical University at lower rents and for shorter terms. 

11:44 

Serafin Dinges 

We now stood in the middle of the campus. It almost feels like a marketplace. Someone over there is leaving on a Deutsche Bahn bikeshare bike. Right next to it, there are about 20 charging docks for Teslas, a handful of busy restaurants, and a coffee shop round off the village atmosphere. Several thousand people can be fed here at lunchtime. There's also a pool and a volleyball court. One secret as to why it all seems to work so well? Vertical integration. Apart from the security staff, almost everything here is run by EUREF AG itself. A former star chef was hired to run the restaurants and hardly any of the services are outsourced. For the people that work here, this means there's always someone to take care of you and quickly react to any problems you might have. But the real pumping heart of the whole campus is just a few steps further. Birgit Detig of Arcadis, who is also on the tour, and me are visibly impressed. 

12:44 

Birgit Detig 

This is kind of the heart of it, isn’t it?  

12:47 

Karin Teichmann 

At least in terms of energy, yes. 

12:52 

Serafin Dinges 

We're in a large room, an arrangement of metal pipes from floor to ceiling, various valves, warning lights, fuse boxes. We are in an engine room. 

12:47 

Karin Teichmann 

So we're here in the EUREF Energy Workshop. It's a place that you wouldn't normally see. Because it's ultimately our boiler room. It’s what you would normally hide away. It's usually a bit dirty and dark. Exactly the opposite here. We've set the scene with colors and lights for various reasons. One of the important reasons is to get young people excited for the energy transition. In other words, the place is a bit magical because it allows school children to see that the energy transition can actually be achieved. 

13:39 

Serafin Dinges 

From this very room, the entire campus, with its 7,000 workstations, is supplied with heat and cold. Considering this, the rooms almost inconspicuous. But in fact, a whole host of innovations is located right here in the energy supply system. Because as Mrs. Teichmann is proud to say.  

12:47 

Karin Teichmann 

The campus has been CO2 neutral since 2014. Since then, we have been ahead of our time in achieving the German governments climate targets for 2045. And we are achieving this with existing components. We have intelligently brought everything together here, but these are all things that you can buy. And of course you need clever people to assemble them. Schneider Electric and Arcadis are our specialist engineers. These engineers and advisors show us how it is possible to achieve this CO2 neutrality. 

14:43 

Serafin Dinges 

Out of a door in the boiler room we head straight into another walk-in energy experiment. Behind glass panes, car batteries are stacked along the entire wall, several meters high and wide, towering above us.  

14:57 

Karin Teichmann 

Here we store the green electricity that we have in excess at certain times. In second life Car batteries, in this case in lithium ion batteries from Audi. These were the e-trons that were driven as prototypes. We left the batteries a little dirty on purpose. So that people would believe that they were second life batteries. 

15:20 

Serafin Dinges 

Each of these batteries has the footprint of an entire car. The way the batteries hum here, it's almost SciFi. 

15:28 

Karin Teichmann 

To get a feel for it, this entire space holds 1.9 megawatts. That's enough to run the entire campus with its 7000 workstations at a full load for four hours.  

15:42 

Serafin Dinges 

And this is just the first experiment. EUREF AG is already developing a second campus in Düsseldorf, where they are applying what they learned in Berlin. In that location, old car batteries are being used to power EV charging stations. Birgit Detig, who accompanied the construction of the EUREF campus for Arcadis, knows of another re-imagination. 

16:04 

Birgit Detig 

I can give you another example from Arcadis, the Ajax Amsterdam Stadium. They put 4000 solar panels on their roof and used old batteries. In that case, Nissan batteries to store the incoming energy. Not all of it, but large parts of it. And this room here was the role model, so to speak.  

16:25 

Serafin Dinges 

What EUREF AG has learned here, many of the innovations that we need for the energy transition already exist. They just need to be implemented properly. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, but you do have to put it on the wagon. 

16:43 

Karin Teichmann 

Exactly. This is the place where we show how it works. And most importantly, that it's not rocket science. It's nothing secret. On the contrary, we are inviting people from all over the world to look at this together and cherry pick the building blocks that suit their own location, their own country. 

17:02 

Serafin Dinges 

So the big challenge isn't reinvention, but the successful implementation and combination of existing innovations. And for this EUREF Campus has created the perfect conditions. Because the various companies that work here don't just work side by side. The campus has been deliberately designed to encourage chance encounters in the café, by the pool, or over lunch. 

17:30 

Karin Teichmann 

One big advantage of the EUREF Campus, is that the brains behind energy transition are also based here. So if you want to meet Ottmar Edenhofer or Simone Peter, well, you could make an appointment, which you'll probably get in 2026. Or you can simply go out there for lunch and bump into them. Because we all eat and then you have a lot of those “Oh, hey, since I just run into you, can I have a quick word?” moments that you just don't get in Teams. And it's these accidental encounters that give rise to innovation. 

18:06 

Serafin Dinges 

Another secret for this success is the deliberate curation of the companies that are based here. Anyone who wants to rent office space here must also support this idea of openness. 

18:20 

Karin Teichmann 

And that's why we occasionally also part with tenants and say it was nice to have you here, but if you're just looking for an office property, then we would suggest that you look for something else. We have such exciting companies that would love to have the space here. Which in turn means that all the companies who are actually here are serious about it. 

18:45 

Serafin Dinges 

And it seems to work. As Birgit Detig from Arcadis tells me. 

18:52 

Birgit Detig 

By now, we've properly arrived and have really taken advantage of this campus, especially with Schneider Electric, because we have all these thematic overlaps. We have overlaps with Deutsche Bahn as far as rail is concerned, and in this respect, the campus concept makes perfect sense for us. 

19:09 

Serafin Dinges 

To understand what it feels like to work here day-to-day, I talked to Frank Walter, one of Arcadis’ employees here. 

19:18 

Frank Walter 

So, I'm responsible for design and engineering at Arcadis. Our group is called performance driven engineering, so we've got a high standard here, especially in the international context. 

19:30 

Serafin Dinges 

Frank Walter has been on the campus for almost 10 years, so he's witnessed much of the construction firsthand. From his office, he had a view of the gasometer and the impressive construction that took place there. He says it's a particularly exciting place to work with his constant self-reinventions and new developments. 

19:51 

Frank Walter 

I love it here. I'm really proud we got to play a certain part in the realization of the campus. We did a lot of the project management and really got to see it grow. Feels good to be part of it and I have to say, I just like coming to the office by bike, by electric car, which I can actually charge here, right in the door step.  

20:12 

Serafin Dinges 

And working here is also associated with pride and perhaps a bit of prestige. 

20:20 

Frank Walter 

These values that we have as an organization, we can live those in this space. They're actually reflected in this rented space. And I've already had one or two applicants who said “Wow, an office like this with a certification like this. I don't want to plan stuff like that for others. I want to be based here myself.” So being able to work from a place like this, it's an asset.  

20:47 

Serafin Dinges 

People enjoy going in and out. You can tell this place and its amenities, they're meant to be used, and if something isn't used then it's removed or improved. A good example are e-scooters, which you can now find in most big cities. Often lying around at the side of the road, turning into e-waste. The EUREF Campus tested them out a few years ago in a trial project and made the same observation. At some point, the scooters would just lie around, break down and become more of an obstacle. So the trial project was abandoned. After my conversation with Mrs. Teichmann, I wanted to put this lauded idea of the open door to the test myself, without the widely known Karin Teichmann. So I walk towards the next best open door. “Hey, I'm working on a podcast about the EUREF Campus and your guys’ door was open.”, I say. “Would any of you be interested in answering a few questions?” One of them is up for it.  

21:59 

Garamantis 

We are Garamantis. We're a company with 8-9 employees. We create interactive solutions, interactive projections for trade fairs, for museums, for anyone who needs anything like that. We also have a multi touch table here to play around with. I myself have been here for five years and I definitely feel very, very comfortable here. It's a little safe space here in the city. I think it's really cool.  

22:24 

Serafin Dinges 

I ask him “Do you know what motivated you to choose this location over another?” 

22:31 

Garamantis 

So on the one hand, we have a great place here from where we can launch projects all over the world. To meet our customers, receive them here and present things to them. On the other hand, it's a cool community to collaborate with, and if you have an event, you can work here with the people from Wasserturm and EUREF Events. That's a lot of fun, too.  

22:57 

Serafin Dinges 

I ask if for them as a smaller company working here makes it easier to get in touch with people they wouldn't otherwise work right next door to.  

23:08 

Garamantis 

Definitely. There are also these EUREF tours that take place here. We've had the former mayor visit. We've had the King of Sweden here with his delegation and of course that's very exciting to see how people like that react to things here. And to get feedback. So there are all sorts of people coming here. Travel groups of teenagers who want to have a look around, who are perhaps interested in doing an internship or working in this area later on, which is also exciting. But then also something like kings. It's a wide range.  

23:49 

Serafin Dinges 

And with that, he jumps on his bike and rides off and as I leave the campus and make my way back to my own bike, I realized that I forgot to lock my helmet and left it just hanging onto the handlebars. In Berlin, this would usually guarantee that it's gone, but here, in keeping with the small village vibe, it's still there. 

24:13 

Davion Ford  

That's it for this episode of the show. I want to thank Karin, Birgit and Serafin for joining us. Please stay tuned for future episodes as we continue to bring change-makers to the table. We're driving progress in urban development, and if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and check out our other episodes. I'm Davion Ford, and you've been listening to Better Cities by Design, a podcast brought to you by Arcadis, the world's leading company delivering data-driven sustainable design, engineering and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. You can learn more by visiting our website, arcadis.com or by following Arcadis on LinkedIn or Facebook. And please, stay curious, get inspired and remember the future belongs to those who dare to make a difference in the cities we call home.