IN-Campus, the Audi Technology Park of the Future signals the desire of Audi and the German city of Ingolstadt to prepare themselves for the digital future and the mobility realities of tomorrow. They are developing a modern industrial technology park on the site of a former oil refinery in the east of Ingolstadt. A number of innovative soil-decontamination methods will be employed in order to remediate the site – the first environmental project of its kind to be undertaken in Bavaria. The laying of the foundation stone on May 13, 2019 was an occasion for the project participants and Bavaria’s Minister President Dr. Markus Söder to celebrate the project’s first milestone. Drees & Sommer is providing project management, green building consultancy and technical project management support for the campus development.
High-Tech and Creativity on Former Industrial Wasteland
The abbreviation IN denotes innovation. ‘Working together with the city of Ingolstadt, the best minds at Audi, scientists, start-ups and partner companies, we have set ourselves the task of creating a think-tank for the technologies for the future. With this in mind, we are comprehensively renovating the site rather than using previously undeveloped land’, explained Peter Kössler, Audi AG Member of the Management Board for Production and Logistics. The innovative ideas pursued by IN-Campus GmbH (a joint venture between Audi AG and the city of Ingolstadt) include the provision of high-quality jobs in modern buildings with food and beverage offers and a connection to nature. The 75-hectare site is to be occupied by Audi employees, partner companies, project teams and start-ups. Not only does the former refinery site provide an enormous amount of space, it also comes with a highly beneficial connection to Audi headquarters and direct highway access. The site will facilitate future work on and research into the development of autonomous driving.
Commitment to the Ingolstadt Site – Laying the Foundations of Technological Change
The foundation stone for the entire project was officially laid on May 13, 2019 by Bavarian Minister President Dr. Markus Söder, Mayor of the City of Ingolstadt Dr. Christian Lösel, Audi AG Member of the Management Board for Production and Logistics, and the joint Managing Directors of IN-Campus GmbH. ‘The positive development of Ingolstadt, as represented by the IN-Campus, is an example of Bavaria’s expansion in the fields of digitalization and advanced technology. We are creating the jobs of the future here, for the technologies of the future’, said Ingolstadt Mayor Dr. Christian Lösel.
Nature Conservation and Technology: IN-Campus – a Flagship Remediation Project
Not only will the innovative technologies of the future play their part in the development of the IN-Campus, so too will the vision of a zero-energy campus. Energy-efficient buildings, high levels of on-site energy production, renewable-energy and waste-heat utilization, energy storage and intelligent control systems will all contribute to the realization of this vision. The future campus will feature unrestricted access, open structures and spacious outside facilities. A central component of the concept is its closeness to nature, achieved by means of a wide avenue bordering expansive green areas – the Campus artery – providing a near-natural transition to the riverside woodland. In fall 2018 building work for the first of three construction phases of the campus started on an uncontaminated zone in the north-west of the site. Construction work on the project house – a complex consisting of four buildings – is already underway. Starting in late 2020, this is where some 1,400 developers from Audi and its partner companies will begin working on innovative projects. The first construction phase will see the addition of a vehicle safety center with a modern crash arena, a computer center, a support services building (including a fire station) and an energy control center. Construction phase 1 is expected to be completed by 2023, with IN-Campus GmbH also gradually developing additional future-oriented projects on the remaining sections of the side. However, before construction work can begin on the site as a whole, contamination left behind by the former oil refinery site will have to be remediated and soil decontaminated between now and 2022.
The elaborate remediation project on the IN-Campus site is one of the largest in Germany and the first environmental project of its kind to be undertaken in Bavaria.
75 hectares of industrial wasteland transformed into a high-tech location
‘People will work on and carry out research into innovative projects at the IN-Campus. We look forward to playing our part in transforming the campus from industrial wasteland into a high-tech location, and in ensuring that deadline, cost and quality objectives are met,’ said Stefan Schweitzer, Associate Partner at Drees & Sommer. The international project management and consulting company is providing technical project management and project steering support to the client. Drees & Sommer is also advising IN-Campus GmbH on how to secure Green Building certification. It is not just the project’s size that is so exceptional – there is also the environmental aspect which has turned the IN-Campus into a flagship project for Bavaria. Once the remediation work has been completed, the plan is for nature to spread out across 15 hectares of the site, providing habitat for endangered animal and plant species.