Dune oasis made from local shell sand
“Offenbach am Meer” is how a cultural initiative of the same name once ironically described the city. That was of course meant to be provocative and deliberately exaggerated. But you can actually “sniff” a little coastal flair on Offenbach’s harbor island. Because “Offenbach am Main” can now boast a large dune made of shell sand on its river bank. The public utility company OPG has thus added another attraction to the park it created, but which is currently inaccessible, at the tip of the harbor island.
The heaped up sand hill in the middle of the 10,000 square meter green area is littered with small river mussels. From the hill, the view extends far to the west to the Frankfurt skyline and to the east over the entire harbor district. “Even if we unfortunately have to wait a long time before final completion: One of the most beautiful urban green areas will be created here, which will offer natural recreation in a unique waterfront location. It is therefore good that things are at least moving forward and that a first special feature has now been integrated into the park,” said Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke.
The Frankfurt building material recycling and logistics company Blasius Schuster KG delivered 2,500 tons of the most beautiful shell sand for OPG Offenbacher Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH. The sand was dredged out of the Main by the company Hülskens Wasserbau and transported to the port of Offenbach with a crane ship and pontoon. There the material was transferred directly from the ship to land.
The shell sand comes from maintenance work on the Main waterway at Opelhafen in Rüsselsheim. There the fairway for shipping had been restricted in places by the natural drift of sand and gravel. Before the material could be dredged to remove the shallows, divers had first taken soil samples from the sand that had been driven in. From an environmental point of view, the analysis of the composition confirmed that the sediment could be used in the “Park in the Dunes” on Offenbach’s harbor island without any problems.
In terms of sustainability
“We were quickly convinced by Blasius Schuster’s offer, because it means we can use local material from the region for our dune oasis in the interests of sustainability,” says Daniela Matha. She is the managing director of the public utilities company OPG, which is developing the former Offenbach industrial port into a lively mixed-use district with living, working, education and local recreation for the sister company Mainviertel GmbH & Co. KG, which owns the area.
The Blasius Schuster Group, which was founded 76 years ago, focuses on the sustainable recycling of mineral materials. It is one of the leading environmental service providers in Germany and has specialized in the circular economy for mineral building materials. “The company wants to move into the ROCKYWOOD office building ensemble in the Port of Offenbach with a team of construction and recycling specialists. Here, under the direction of Blasius Schuster, a hub for the circular economy of mineral building materials is being created, in which environmental engineers, laboratories, construction, technology and processing companies are also involved. It is important for Offenbach that the port now also functions as a business location,” emphasizes Mayor Schwenke.
The ROCKYWOOD project is currently being developed in a hybrid wood construction and is also committed to the idea of sustainability.
Blasius Schuster Managing Director Daniel Imhäuser: “We want to reuse construction waste in the best possible way and at the same time shift truck transport from the road to environmentally friendly modes of transport. That’s why we move our bulk goods on almost a thousand trains and barges every year.”
In this way, around 100 truckloads of heavy 40-ton trucks could have been avoided when transporting the shell sand by ship from Rüsselsheim to Offenbach. The regional new use is also environmentally friendly and sustainable. The need for the “Park in the Dunes” was a stroke of luck, because there are only limited uses for shell sand, for example it is unsuitable as a building material for concrete production.
Offer people attractive local recreation
The OPG 2020 started with the construction of the island park. The public park at the tip of the island for all Offenbach residents was very important to local politics from the start. It is in an exposed waterfront location in the very west of the new harbor district between the banks of the Main and the harbor basin. According to the plans of the Henning Larsen office and in coordination with the municipal department for urban design and urban greenery, the park should offer people attractive local recreation with a dune oasis, a boulevard along the bank and also a picnic area and with vegetation appropriate to the site, including a bee pasture with wild herbs, birds and provide new habitat for other animals.
The park is still in the first expansion stage. The terrain is modeled and planted with trees and shrubs that are now growing. Paths have been created, cables laid and the boat promenade extended along the harbor basin into the park area. However, the green area is not yet safe for traffic, the last wear layers of the floor coverings and paths are missing, there are neither safety railings at the tip of the island, nor benches nor park lighting.
“Unfortunately, we are dependent on the neighboring buildings for the completion and opening of the facility,” says Daniela Matha. However, the investor has not yet submitted a building application for the planned high-rise buildings. “Nevertheless, we are thinking about an interim use. We may be able to open the fenced off Inselpark 2024 at least temporarily and make it accessible at fixed times.”
(Text: PM City of Offenbach)
