RheinOrt, Duisburg

From an industrial site to a mixed-use district: Drees & Sommer coordinates the entire process, creates building rights, and ensures costs, timelines, and quality.

Rotating pairs of rollers that transform red-hot steel blocks into wire rod: this kind of transformation was part of everyday life at the Niederrheinische Hütte in the Duisburg district of Hochfeld for around 150 years. Now, the approximately 30-hectare site on the banks of the Rhine itself is set for a major transformation—from a former heavy industry location into the mixed-use RheinOrt district, combining living, working, and social amenities.

The already completed RheinPark forms the central green and recreational space. In 2027, it and parts of RheinOrt will serve as the venue for Duisburg’s contribution to the International Garden Exhibition.

Complex development in safe hands

Drees & Sommer is managing the overall process for the project developer Periskop Development, coordinating all planners, authorities, and other stakeholders. The focus is on ensuring cost, schedule, and quality throughout the entire development period. The team advises and represents the client in urban development agreements, the creation of building rights, and geotechnical management. This includes the need to redraw the development plan, as well as make changes to the land use plan. A particular challenge lies in planning the many sub-areas within a cohesive district—and integrating it into the existing Duisburg-Hochfeld neighborhood. In addition, the soil is heavily contaminated after 150 years of industrial use, requiring thorough remediation.

Periskop Development has been working successfully and trustingly with Drees & Sommer for many years. An experienced team and established structures facilitated the project launch and continue to create synergies as the project progresses.
 

Added value

• Holistic management of a long and highly complex development process
• High cost and schedule certainty despite challenging framework conditions
• Secure management of planning law, ground conditions, and urban development agreements
• Trust-based, long-standing cooperation built on established structures
• Successful transformation of a contaminated industrial site into a future-proof urban district
   

Services

• Overall project management
• Client representation on site
• Consulting and management of development projects
• Brownfield and site development
• Management of the land-use planning process / creation of building rights
• Feasibility study and 360° analysis
• Development of an innovative energy concept
• Settlement advisory and site development
• Marketing and sales support