Siemens Transforms Industrial Site into Sustainable Digital City
Siemens held a groundbreaking ceremony in Berlin for Europe's largest urban development project, attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner.
www.siemens.com
Around 35,000 people will live and work at Siemensstadt Square, which will have an area of roughly 188 acres and floorspace of more than a million square meters. The project is a blueprint for the effective design of urban brownfield development projects and industrial transformation worldwide. Digital technologies from the entire Siemens Xcelerator platform – from an end-to-end digital twin to artificial intelligence (AI) – will make the district livable and fit for the future.
Together with numerous project partners, Siemens will create a “district of the future” at the more than 100-year-old industrial site in Berlin’s Spandau area; the space will bring together manufacturing, research, learning and living. Living space for up to 7,000 people will cover a total area of 270,000 square meters. Thirty percent of this space will comprise social housing.
In addition, numerous companies and partners will create up to 20,000 jobs. The transformation of the district will bolster the location’s competitive edge and make the industrial jobs based there competitive and fit for the future. Siemens itself is investing €750 million, its largest-ever single investment in Berlin and a strong commitment to Germany as an industrial location. By 2035, total investment in the project will reach up to €4.5 billion.
"This laying of the foundation stone is encouraging. Because it shows what we can already achieve in Germany today - in urban planning and in the construction of modern neighborhoods. Siemensstadt will remain what it has been for 125 years - a place of new beginnings, a place of the future and of confidence!" said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"Siemensstadt Square will be the blueprint for the city of the future," said Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG. "The project will combine artificial intelligence, digital twins and other technologies from the Siemens Xcelerator platform to transform an industrial brownfield area into an engine for solid, healthy growth. Net zero will be ensured through automated production and building technology, optimized energy management and green mobility. It will be a blueprint for sustainable growth and competitiveness through digitalization."
"The future is being made at a new location in Berlin. As we lay the cornerstone for the new Siemensstadt Square neighborhood, we are marking the start of an exciting urban development project: an advanced, sustainable smart city in the middle of one of Berlin’s fastest-growing areas for new construction. It will significantly help Germany’s capital city to reach its climate targets and attract skilled workers, in part because the neighborhood will offer housing with a high quality of life. I am very grateful to Siemens; the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing; and the borough of Spandau for their outstanding cooperation on this flagship project," said Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner.
Digital transformation breaks down silos
Siemensstadt Square will demonstrate how technologies from the Siemens Xcelerator platform can combine digital and sustainable solutions at all levels of the city: from intelligent sustainable buildings with photovoltaic roofs to AI-optimized biodiversity monitoring and solutions for electric vehicles.
At the heart of the planning, optimization and operation of the urban infrastructure is an end-to-end digital twin, which consolidates all datapoints from a campus twin, a building twin and an energy twin. Through the intelligent connection and utilization of this data, a complete virtual image of the district is created, and data silos are broken down. As a result, errors can be detected in the digital city and avoided in the real world. Potential for improvement can be continuously identified in the digital world and implemented, so that even visionary concepts can be tested and a livable future actively shaped.
The campus twin, which was developed in collaboration with Bentley Systems, a partner on the Siemens Xcelerator platform, acts as a digital real-time master plan and brings together all relevant data – everything from building information to planning status. The building twin, part of the Building X software suite on the Siemens Xcelerator platform, is used to carry out the photorealistic replanning of the existing area.
Siemensstadt Square is customer zero for this project. Industrial buildings more than 100 years old and with an area of around 250,000 square meters have already been integrated into a “walk-in” twin without interrupting their ongoing operation. To optimize the district’s power supply, the energy twin is used to generate forecasts in the virtual world and to monitor supply variants. With the help of data analysis, integrated AI optimizes energy efficiency, traffic and waste management and enables forecasting.
"I started my training and career at Siemensstadt thirty years ago. Today, as a member of the Managing Board, I’m laying – together with my fellow colleagues – the foundations for a district of the future. As a native of Berlin, today’s a special day for me. After more than 100 years as a closed production site, Siemensstadt Square will become an open meeting place. A space that will enable people to live together in an inclusive and climate-friendly manner and will significantly shape the future of the people of Berlin. This project is a beacon for Berlin, Germany and Europe," said Cedrik Neike, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.
Sustainable neighborhood – A new piece of Berlin
The project’s comprehensive energy design shows how established cities can reduce their carbon emissions. In collaboration with Berliner Wasserbetriebe – Berlin’s water supply and wastewater disposal utility – and an energy supplier, Europe’s largest wastewater heat exchanger will be installed at the location.
While the district currently emits around 3,000 tons of CO2 a year – an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 2,100 cars with internal combustion engines – the system will combine with heat pumps to start supplying the district with 100 percent carbon-neutral heating and cooling in 2026. The electricity required for the system will be generated entirely from renewable and local energy sources. And all of this will be achieved with significantly more residents and a higher productivity level.
Construction phase for Module 1 begins – Experience Siemensstadt Square from July 2024
The groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of the construction phase for Module 1 of the project. Already from July of this year, visitors and partners will be able to experience the new Siemensstadt Square district in a showroom in the historic administration building.
The first two buildings will be completed in the fall of 2026: an atrium building – the so-called Siemens Hub Berlin – and an information pavilion that will keep local residents up to date on the project’s progress. A 60-meter high-rise structure, which will also house part of the Siemens Mobility team, and a redesigned entrance plaza (to be completed in mid-2027) are also being constructed.
www.siemens.com
